


Silence [Discontinued]

by ArchitectOfGods (orphan_account)



Series: Hesitation [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Mute!Kakashi, Muteness, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tags May Change, making Sakura suck less wasn't meant 2 be a goal, probably going to do that anyway
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-27
Updated: 2017-05-11
Packaged: 2018-10-11 16:24:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 33,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10469244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/ArchitectOfGods
Summary: [Discontinued] Being rewritten, this version will be deleted soon.Kakashi has been mute for a long time, and when he's taken from ANBU, then later told he and another Jounin will be given genin to teach, he isn't exactly impressed.It hurts to see his old teachers son, it hurts to see how revenge driven Sasuke is, and he doesn't understand how he's supposed to teach Sakura at all.And the other sensei of the team, Shiori, is as much of a mystery.





	1. Shiori and Team Seven

He couldn't help but sigh watching the students in their classroom.  
He'd been informed that he was going to be teaching a team of genin from that class, along with another Jounin, and he wasn't looking forward to it.  
Kakashi wasn't even entirely sure what the point of him being on the team was, he hadn't spoke in, what, he pauses that thought, counting years, then shrugs, too long is the conclusion he comes to.  
Watching the students, he's already assuming he'll end up with the Uchiha.  
He can sense some other future sensei perched in the trees around him.  
None of the others come back the next day.  
Kakashi internally decides he'll keep coming back until he knows who will be on his team.  
Four days in, and someone joins him on his branch.  
Tilting his head to the side, the first thing he notices is the mask.  
It's plain and black, dark eyes peering out from the eye holes, and a glance at her neck tells Kakashi that this masked person is wearing another mask like his own underneath it.  
He doesn't speak, he never does. And he can feel the others' curiosity.  
'Your future genin are in there?' she inquires, voice light and lilting. Her hair is black, long and spiky. A common feature, Kakashi supposes.  
He nods.  
'I guess you're Hatake Kakashi,' observes the female, she offers up a hand, 'Shiori.'  
Kakashi hesitantly shakes it, she visibly turns her gaze back to the classroom with a turn of her head, Kakashi can't help but feel curious about the mask she's wearing.  
There's a long moment of silence, then Shiori speaks, her voice bland, 'we're going to be teaching a team of Genin together.'  
Surprise flares through him, he shoots her a questioning look, hoping she can understand the expression through his mask. How could she know he was the one she'd be teaching a team with? He certainly hadn't been told about her.  
'I stole some files,' Shiori seems to have understood, 'I'm only on this team because I can use sign language,' she noted blandly, 'they wanted you alone to teach our poor little genin.'  
There's a pause, then Kakashi hesitantly raises his hands to sign, _'do you know who our poor little genin are?'_  
Shiori snorts, 'you've probably already guesses about the Uchiha,' Kakashi nods and she continues, 'Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura are the other two.'  
He doesn't recognize the females name. But of course he can recognize Naruto's.  
'There's bets on whether or not Naruto will manage to graduate,' Shiori tells him.  
Kakashi ignores this comment, _'what are those masks for?'_  
It's been a while since he's spoke to someone this way, of course there's a basic set of signs ninja use to communicate, but there's no conversation to be had with that, and there's also the signs specific to ANBU. None of that is quite like using sign language, and not a whole lot of people both to learn the full range of sign language Kakashi has grown accustomed to using.  
Shiori doesn't answer right away and he wonders if he's offended her by asking, then Shiori removes the black mask, leaving her in just the mask like his own.  
Black eyes now gaze at him rather boredly, from what he can see of the upper half of her face, she seems pretty. Beautiful even.  
'People bother me less when I have this one on,' she indicates to the black mask in her hand.  
 _'Perhaps we should train together sometime,'_ replies Kakashi.  
Shiori seems curious as she tilts her head to gaze at him, 'Work on our teamwork before re receive the brats?' she questions and Kakashi answers with a sharp nod.  
'It's a good idea,' Shiori decides, 'Tomorrow, let's stalk our little genin for a bit when they get out.'  
Kakashi doesn't disagree, and moments later when Shiori replaces her mask and silently leaps down from the tree, indicating for him to follow, he does.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The next afternoon they train. They start by sparring, Kakashi is reasonably impressed by her taijutsu. But he doesn't stop blocking her blows to tell her so.  
Shiori is only wearing one of her masks, and she seems to be considering removing it.  
When Kakashi flips backwards out of the way of a hit, Shiori seems to get annoyed, she uses one hand to shove the mask downwards so it hangs around her neck, then she shoots him a sharks smile and launches forward.  
The smile catches Kakashi off guard and he feels her fist connect with his face.  
As soon as she feels flesh touch her fist, Shiori skids to a halt and eyes him with some wariness.  
Kakashi waves her off, then lifts his hands to sign, _'Ninjutsu next?'  
_ At this, Shiori seems to hesitate, 'I tend to be a little . . . hot handed when it comes to ninjutsu.'  
 _'Hot handed? So you do fire jutsu? It's fine,'_ answers Kakashi, unsure why she seems so concerned.  
Shiori sighs, Kakashi observes that there's a light smattering of freckles across her cheekbones.  
'If you get burnt, you can only blame yourself,' decides Shiori, sighing again.  
 _'Of course,'_ answers Kakashi, nodding for her to begin the fight.  
They move to spar easily, Kakashi decides to mostly stick to water style jutsus, which he's sure is the only thing that prevents him from being burnt.  
As it goes on, Kakashi does his best to observe how Shiori moves and the kinds of jutsu she uses. The fire flowing around her hands seems almost effortless, and sometimes he's not sure he's even seen her use any handsigns.  
Kakashi is surprised when he tires out before she does, Shiori grins at him as she skids to a halt, covering her face with her mask again.  
 _'We can eat at my place,'_ Kakashi signs.  
Shiori considers, 'How about my place? I can cook,' she slides her black mask on over the first mask and Kakashi nods.  
Following her through the village, Kakashi is unsure why he's willing to go anywhere with her at all. She seems entirely certain of herself at least.  
'I found out when the graduation test is,' Shiori tells him, 'A week from tomorrow.'  
She isn't looking at him, so Kakashi's hands remain still, he wishes he had one of his books on him.  
They enter Shiori's house, the place is larger than Kakashi expected, then he pauses, unsure of what he had expected.  
There's a slight dustiness to the air, Shiori sneezes, removes both her masks on entering the house.  
Kakashi finds himself perched at the kitchen counter while Shiori moves around, pulling out different items, 'I have spare rooms if you want to stay the night,' she tells him, then she pauses to turn so he has the option of replying.  
 _'Cant, have dogs at home,'_ is all he says.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just over a week later, Shiori is perched on the roof when Kakashi arrives.  
She tilts her head in greeting, she's wearing both her masks.  
'Wait up here, I'll bring our little genin up,' her tone is familiar in it's blandness.  
Kakashi nods and settles on the railing as she heads into the building itself.  
The sun is high in the sky, indicating how late he is.  
Unlike his students, Kakashi doesn't have to wait long.  
Shiori appears at his side first, and he offers her a close eyed smile.  
He keeps his eyes closed and tilts his head back, enjoying the feel of the sun, the three genin come onto the roof top as he does so.  
When he opens his eye, he can practically feel their confusion.  
Kakashi nudges Shiori into looking at him, raising his hands, and she nods in comfirmation."  
 _Why don't you all introduce yourselves,'_ signs Kakashi, Shiori quickly translates what he has said to the Genin.  
An interested gleam enters Sakura's eyes, and much to Kakashi's surprise, as she speaks, she raises her hands, fluently using sign language, 'Why don't you start first?' she asks, 'we don't know anything about you.'  
 _'I'm not deaf,'_ Kakashi notes to her, _'You don't need to use sign language back,'_ then he pauses, Shiori hasn't translated this part for Sasuke and Naruto, and when Kakashi glances to her, she just shrugs.  
Kakashi then nudges Shiori with his elbow so she'll translate for him again, _'My name is Hatake Kakashi,'_ he considers, _'I have many likes, and just as many dislikes, as for hobbies. . . I have a lot of those, and my dream for the future? Well, that's not important.'  
_ Sakura twitched, while Naruto narrowed his eyes.  
'You told us nothing except your name,' grumbles Naruto, Kakashi shrugs, glances to Shiori.  
'My name is Ito Shiori,' she drawls at the prompt, 'I like fire and dislike noisy people, my hobbies are,' she pauses and considers, then just shrugs, 'and my dream for the future is,' another pause, then another shrug.  
Now both Shiori and Kakashi look to Naruto, who immediately perks up, 'My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen! And I dislike Sasuke, my hobbies are eating ramen, and my dream for the future is to be Hokage so everyone will have to notice me and respect me!'  
Sakura starts next, unprompted, 'My name is Haruno Sakura,' she pauses, now sounding rather shy, 'I like reading to learn new things, my hobbies include helping my parents, and my dream for the future is . . .' the pink haired female pauses and glances at Sasuke, only Kakashi hears Shiori snort.  
'My name is Uchiha Sasuke,' Sasuke seems to be glaring at his hands, which he's holding in front of his face, fingers steeped against each other, 'My only like is training, I dislike fangirls and wasting time, my hobbies don't matter, and my dream for the future is to restore honour to my family and get strong enough to kill a certain someone.'  
' _Edgy_ ,' signs Shiori to Kakashi, Kakashi sighs, ' _Sakura can understand you_ ,' he signs back, ' _not a good method of mocking them in front of their faces_.'  
Sakura looks rather uncertain, but she doesn't comment.  
Shiori rolls her eyes, turning to the genin, she quickly informs them of where they'll be meeting the next day. Kakashi's aura darkens as he signs, _'Make sure not to eat breakfast, or you'll puke.'_  
Sakura pales right away, while Sasuke and Naruto only react after Shiori translates.  
Kakashi allows a little waggle of his fingers before disappearing in a puff of smoke, Shiori considers their Genin, 'if you pass the test tomorrow, sign language will be one of the things we work on,' then she also disappears.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

Kakashi sits perched in a tree and idly watches people go by, he's seen Naruto rush past a few times now, and seen Sakura. Neither have noticed him.  
Then Shiori appears next to him, she's wearing both masks and her gaze immediately goes to where Sasuke is sitting not far from them.  
 _'Think they'll pass the test?'_ asks Kakashi, watching Shiori rather than the people around them now.  
Shiori shrugs, raises her hands to sign, _'They seem like the sort we'll be stuck with.'  
_ Now she stands and indicates for Kakashi to follow her.  
It's quiet as they make their way along the tops of buildings, Shiori moves quickly and lithely which is slightly interesting to see. It makes Kakashi wonder about her background, he'd never heard of her until meeting her at the academey.  
They come to a halt at Shiori's house, the female immediately wanders inside, removing both masks.  
'We should have a team dinner here sometime,' she notes to him, 'with the genin.'  
Kakashi shrugs, _'hard to eat wearing two masks.'_  
'But easy to eat while wearing one mask right?' Shiori eyes him with some amusement.  
Nodding Kakashi gazes at her face for a few moments, it does look slightly familiar, but not familiar like he knows her, more like she looks like someone he knew. But over all her face is pretty, and a little generic.  
Stretching Shiori yawns and makes her way over to the kitchen to start preparing dinner, within the last week Shiori is yet to allow Kakashi to help in this task.  
'Want to stay the night?' asks Shiori, she asks every night despite the fact Kakashi never says yes.  
Kakashi moved to his perch and shook his head, _'not tonight.'_  
Shiori sends him a wry smile but doesn't comment.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The next morning, Shiori arrives half an hour early and perches herself up in a tree.  
She isn't surprised when Sakura arrives next, Sasuke arriving not long after that.  
Sasuke settles down at the base of the tree Shiori is in and takes a book out of his bag, the book looks entirely boring but Shiori shrugs this off and keeps a look out for Naruto and Kakashi.  
She hears the blond before she sees him.  
He's shouting about being late as he runs through the streets, and Sakura sighs when she hears him, shoulders slumping.  
Naruto comes skidding up to his teammates then scowls when he doesn't see Shiori or Kakashi.  
Eyeing the genin for a moment, Shiori settles back against the tree and closes her eyes. No doubt Kakashi plans to be late, she inwardly wonders what excuse he'll come up with today, something cat related probably.  
They wait for hours before Kakashi arrives, Kakashi looks as bored as ever, barely responding when both Sakura and Naruto yell at him for being late.  
He decides not to give an excuse and tilts his head back to look up at Shiori, she inclines her head back and silently drops to the ground beside him, startling the genin.  
Shiori inclines her head then proceeds to explain the bell test, Kakashi raises the two bells and jingles them to draw the attention of the genin to them.  
Sakura, however, is frowning as she takes in the fact there's only two bells.  
Tossing one to Shiori, Kakashi indicates for them to begin, Sasuke and Sakura disappear to find places to hide and watch from, but Naruto remains still.  
 _'He doesn't seem bright,'_ signs Shiori to Kakashi, Kakashi only shrugs in return.  
Shiori offers a vague wave to Naruto before disappearing into the trees, leaving Kakashi to face the blond.  
Naruto seems unsure how, and Kakashi supposes it's because there's no one around to translate anything Kakashi says.  
It doesn't seem to bother Naruto for two long as he decides to go for a direct attack.  
The blonds moves are sloppy at best, and Kakashi almost sighs at the thought of how much training he's going to have to put this team through. The thought makes him feel grateful for the fact Shiori will be there to help.  
After a bit, Kakashi starts to feel bored at the Genins attacks and pulls out his book to read, Naruto skids to a halt, mouth dropping open.  
Shiori seems to appear from nowhere, she nods to Kakashi first then lazily gestures for Naruto to continue his attempts for the bell.  
There's a moment where Naruto seems to hesitate, but he brushes whatever he's thinking off and summons a bunch of clones.  
It's almost pathetically easy for Kakashi to brush off the clones, sending several splashing into the pond.  
He can't help but feel disappointed that none of the Genin seem to be making any effort to work together.  
Shiori nods to Kakashi then steps in to fend off Naruto while Kakashi takes off to see where Sakura has gone to.  
The pink haired female seems to be looking for Sasuke, and Kakashi feels a flash of relief that at least one of the Genin is trying to work with one of the others.  
He almost lazily captures her in a Genjutsu, and when she screams he can't help but feel a little guilty. These Genin are so squishy, he sighs.  
The bell rings now and everyone heads over to where three short wooden pillars are.  
Sakura looks slightly pale and she sits leaned against one of the pillars while Naruto perches on top of it.  
Kakashi's expression is dark, but he allows Shiori to speak for him.  
'You all fail,' Shiori's voice is as bland as always, 'but don't worry, you wont have to go back to the Academy.'  
Naruto brightens considerably, while Sakura looks concerned and Sasuke only seems mildly interested.  
'Because none of you are going to be ninja, you've failed completely,' Shiori's voice has dropped to a lilting tone, one she mostly only uses when alone with Kakashi.  
'Eh?' goes Sakura, Sasuke's jaw seems to drop, and Kakashi considers them, he taps Shiori's shoulders, _'Maybe we give them one more chance, after lunch.'  
_ Sakura turns a hopeful gaze to Shiori while Naruto mostly just looks confused.  
'Hmm,' goes Shiori, 'One more chance after lunch, but first, I'll explain why you all failed.'  
'You didn't even try to work together, Sakura did make some effort, but she only wanted to work with Sasuke, and didn't even consider Naruto, teamwork is important, the Academy tries to set you up for it, but evidently it went over all of your heads,' explains Shiori.  
Kakashi nods in agreement, ' _we'll tie Naruto to the pillar,_ ' he notes to Shiori, there's a pause then she nods.  
'Since Naruto tried to steal everyone's lunch, he'll be tied to the pillar,' she quickly and easily does so before handing the food to Sasuke and Sakura, 'Naruto doesn't get lunch,' her aura darkens, 'so don't even think of giving him even a bite.'  
The Genin exchange a look but don't say anything when Shiori and Kakashi disappear in two puffs of smoke.

 


	3. Chapter 3

They perch in a tree not far away to watch the genin.  
Shiori removes her black mask, leaving the under one on, her gaze is almost bored as she watches the genin.  
They watch as Sasuke silently holds his lunch towards Naruto after the blond whines, then there's a few moments where Sakura and Sasuke argue and Sakura goes to feed Naruto.  
Exchanging a look, Shiori and Kakashi both stand, Shiori slipping on her mask as she does so, and they appear down before the genin.  
Shiori's voice booms, 'Didn't I tell you not to feed Naruto?!'  
Sakura seems to cower back, 'But we had to, we're a team,' she stutters, Sasuke eyes her then nods in agreement.  
Shiori's eyes narrow, 'that's what you have to say for yourselves? That you lowly genin are a team?'  
'Yeah!' exclaims Naruto, 'they gave me food because we're a team and we need to work together!'  
'You . . . .' Shiori nudges Kakashi roughly before finishing her sentence, 'Pass!'  
Kakashi quietly nudges her back, noting that she barely moves from the shove despite the fact he'd used enough strength to shove most people over.  
Sakura's eyes go wide, Kakashi now waves them off, dismissing them for the day.  
While Kakashi disappears in a puff of smoke, Shiori stays and watches as Sasuke leaves, Sakura following after them.  
'Uh, guys?' goes Naruto, struggling where he's tied to the pillar, evidently worried he's going to get left behind.  
Shiori snorts in amusement and releases him, 'I'm going to start teaching you sign language,' she tells him.  
'Really?' Naruto perks up and quickly runs to follow after her.  
'I can't always be around to translate for Kakashi, so yes,' Shiori nods.  
Naruto considers this, 'but Sakura knows sign language.'  
'That is true,' confirms Shiori, and now Naruto recognizes the area, he goes pale, 'you live near here?'  
'Of course not,' replies Shiori, 'we're going to your place.'  
'Why?'  
Shiori shrugs, doesn't bother admitting that Kakashi is probably at her house, she'd agreed for him to try cooking dinner tonight.  
Entering the place, Naruto isn't quite sure what his sensei is thinking, as her face is still covered by both masks, but she does seem to be assessing the room from how her head is moving. There's several moments of silence then Shiori shrugs and moves forward to clear a section of floor, she's efficient in how she moves and very quickly has a section cleared.  
'We'll work on the rest of the place another day,' she notes, folding her legs under her.  
Naruto hesitates then sits across from her, apparently ready to start learning.  
'We'll start with the basics,' explains Shiori, then does a sign, 'this is hello.'  
Naruto mimics it, then glances to her, she nods and he beams.  
They work through different basic signs for the rest of the afternoon before Kakashi appears at one of the windows, the Hatake doesn't hesitate to let himself in.  
'Kakashi-sensei!' exclaims Naruto in greeting, then waves his arms around for a moment before holding his hands up to sign, ' _Hello_.'  
Kakashi hesitates before signing back, ' _Hello,_ ' then he tilts his head to look to Shiori.  
'Guess I better head off,' observes Shiori, standing, she waves to Naruto before disappearing in a puff of smoke, Kakashi following after her.  
They walk part of the way to Shiori's house in silence, and the smell of burnt food hits Shiori as soon as they enter the building.  
She removes her masks to shoot Kakashi a doubtful look, Kakashi only sighs and his shoulders slump.  
In the kitchen, Kakashi serves up instant ramen much to Shiori's amusement, and to her relief, this food at least, is not burnt.  
As usual, Kakashi seems to only take bites as soon as Shiori isn't looking, she doesn't bother to comment on this. After all, Kakashi is the only one she takes both masks off around.  
'Naruto isn't really as dumb as some people seem to imply,' notes Shiori, 'He was doing okay with learning different signs.'  
Kakashi considers this then nods but doesn't comment.  
Shiori snorts at him, 'Stay the night?'  
 _'Not tonight,'_ replies Kakashi, and this time he snorts in response to himself.  
'If I ask enough, you'll have to say yes one day,' Shiori tells him, and Kakashi rolls his visible eye before standing to leave.  
Outside he casts a wary gaze about before starting his walk towards home.  
He hasn't seen Gai in a while, and usually his rival would have issued some challenge by now.  
But then, he is somewhat grateful that Gai hasn't seen how much time he's been spending with Shiori, he'd be bound to make some assumptions of that, seeing as Kakashi doesn't really spend a lot of time with people in general.  
There's a coollness to the air, and Kakashi finds himself pausing for a moment to gaze at the stars above.  
And that's when he hears the yell.  
'Kakashi! My most youthful friend!' yells Gai as he comes charging up, 'I haven't seen you, what a joyous occasion this is.'  
Kakashi's shoulders slump and he turns to face Gai, who has automatically posed with both thumbs up, neither notice Shiori perched in a tree, watching with some amusement.

\------------------------------------------------------------

 

Tilting his head back, Kakashi considers the last few weeks.  
He and Shiori had very quickly started taking on jobs with the genin.  
They'd also begin discreetly training them, and getting them to work together.  
Kakashi liked to think it was working well enough.  
He watched as Naruto stopped being careful enough, the blond toppled into the water of the stream they'd been fishing rubbish from. Shiori twitched, as if she had considered helping him.  
Sakura yelps and quickly dives to grab at Naruto, she catches his ankle but the steam decides to take her too, forcing Sasuke into action, he manages to grab Sakura's ankle but isn't quite strong enough to pull both his teammates in.  
Kakashi now moves forward to help Sasuke fish them out.  
The Uchiha seems to shoot Kakashi a grateful look, which Kakashi ignores in favour of fetching towels for Sakura and Naruto to dry off with.  
'He's fetching towels,' notes Shiori to the genin, 'you should finish up this mission, there should be enough time before he gets back.'  
Sakura nods and determinedly resumes with the mission, Shiori feels a swell of pride, when they'd first started taking on missions, Sakura had been prone to giving up, but Shiori felt the pink haired girl was steadily improving.  
'How long have you known Kakashi-sensei?' asks Naruto curiously, shaking water out of his hair.  
'Only a week longer than you have,' answers Shiori, Naruto crinkles his nose up at her bland tone. It's something he's grown used to, but it still bothers him.  
Sakura is the first to flop onto the ground when they finish the mission, and Kakashi returns then, he throws the first towel at Sakura.  
 _'I'll report in that the mission is complete,'_ signs Kakashi, _'take the rest of the day off.'_  
Shiori waves to the genin and translates for Sasuke and Naruto, who look slightly confused, as soon as she's done so she disappears in a puff of smoke.  
Kakashi is the next to disappear, and he's surprised to note Shiori has headed to the same place he has.  
Iruka greets the pair pleasantly enough and waits patiently as Shiori scrawls out a mission report. He notes to himself that Shiori and Kakashi have made a good pair, Kakashi has pretty much never filled in his own mission reports, while Shiori doesn't seem to mind doing it.  
And Shiori was certainly better at doing it than any of the genin on their team, considering Naruto tended to fill them out in crayon.  
'They're starting to get frustrated with being given such easy missions,' notes Shiori, Kakashi nods in agreement, not bothering to add anything even if he knows that Iruka knows sign language.  
Iruka shrugs, 'they'll get harder missions eventually, we can't shove them forward too soon.'  
'I suppose,' Shiori now slides the finished mission report across the desk and leaves with a wave, Kakashi smiles a close eyed smile then follows after her.  
'Stay the night?' asks Shiori as they walk, Kakashi can almost hear the smile in his voice.  
Kakashi hesitates, then declines.  
Shiori snorts, 'I'll cook dinner tonight.'  
They then hear a yell, Kakashi glances around and notices Naruto charging towards them.  
Shiori seems to brighten up, she catches Naruto by the collar of his shirt and sweeps him up into her grasp, 'I caught a goof,' she notes, voice flat.  
'Oi!' protests Naruto as he squirms.  
'Want to join us for dinner?' invites Shiori, placing the genin back on his feet.  
Naruto fluffs his hair then perks up, 'you really want me to join you?'  
'Sure,' replies Shiori, Kakashi hesitates then nods in agreement.  
They're approaching Shiori's house now, Naruto gazes up at it with big eyes, 'Wow, you have so much space!' he exclaims.  
Shiori shrugs and removes her black mask as she enters the place, Naruto stares at her in awe but apparently decides against commenting.  
'I'll make something more simple tonight,' decides Shiori, 'Ramen.'  
'Ramen!' exclaims Naruto, he plonks himself at the bench next to Kakashi.  
Naruto watches Shiori cook with a look of interest, 'So you both have that mask that covers your neck, mouth and nose,' notes Naruto, mimicking the masks with his hands over his face.  
'Mhm,' hums Shiori while Kakashi nods.  
'Are you both secretly really ugly?' asks Naruto, Shiori's eyes narrow while Kakashi sighs.

 


	4. Chapter 4

Kakashi watched his genin as they ran around the village, Sakura was still lagging behind but he supposed she was improving.  
He was sure they were all going to die, and he didn't really want to grow attached to them.  
It was a ridiculous idea to make him a sensei.  
Giving Friend-killer Kakashi genin and expecting him to keep them alive? It had to be a joke.  
Frowning to himself, he considers Shiori, who is perched next to him.  
Shiori now stretched and offered up a small wave before disappearing in a puff of smoke, Kakashi frowned.  
Sasuke and Naruto now came to a halt under the tree Kakashi was perched in, having apparently been racing to see who could get to Kakashi first.  
'I was first,' decides Naruto, puffing out his chest.  
Scowling, Sasuke immediately replies, 'you were not.'  
Sakura now comes running up, she glances around, 'Where's Shiori-sensei?'  
Kakashi shrugs, then pauses as he hears something.  
'My eternal rival!' yells a voice, then Gai is approaching them, Sakura steps back at the sight of Gai, her eyes wide.  
Kakashi lazily holds a hand up in greeting.  
'Your genin! What youthful young ones they are,' observes Gai, looking them over, 'I have still yet to meet this other Jounin you're working with,' Gai notes, sending Kakashi a curious look.  
' _She was here just a few minutes ago,_ ' signs Kakashi, noting how Sakura automatically translates for Sasuke and Naruto, who still aren't very good at sign language.  
'Hmm,' goes Gai, 'I have an idea!'  
One of Gai's ideas? Kakashi feels rather reluctant to ask about the idea, but with a sigh he does so anyway.  
'We'll have dinner together! Bring her by my place tonight, I'll cool!' exclaims Gai.  
Naruto now seems interested, Kakashi notes that Shiori had invited Naruto him to join Kakashi and Shiori for dinner tonight.  
 _'Can I bring my genin, also?'_ asks Kakashi.  
'Sure, most youthful rival! I look forward to dining with you and your team!' Gai throws up a peace sign and now leaves.  
Sasuke seems slightly baffled, while Sakura lightly taps Kakashi's arm to draw his attention, 'Could I go home and make sure my parents are okay with me having dinner at Gai's place?'  
Kakashi nods and the pink haired girl immediately takes off for home, she's taken to running more often, and Kakashi sometimes wonders if she's the same indoors.  
It seems like something only excitable people do, sprinting everywhere.  
Now Kakashi gives Sasuke and Naruto a slightly confused look, as both translators have now taken off.  
' _Meet here at 6pm_ ,' he signs slowly, so both genin can see each individual movement.  
Naruto seems to comprehend it before Sasuke, so he nudges the black haired male, 'He says to meet here at 6pm!'  
Both genin then wave at Kakashi and leave, Kakashi sighs and decides to go looking for Shiori.  
He isn't quite sure where to find Shiori exactly, she generally leaves him alone in the mornings, arrives to meet their Genin before him and has dinner with him each night. He isn't sure what she does outside of that.  
The thought seems baffling, that he can know her this long and still know so little.  
Wandering through the town doesn't seem to reveal her, and after a while Kakashi starts to feel bored so he pulls out his book and reads as he walks.  
'Oof,' as he's walking, suddenly someone crashes into his back, knocking all his breath out of him.  
'Ah, Kakashi!' he turns to see Shiori, she's wearing both her masks and seems slightly out of breath.  
 _'Shiori,'_ Kakashi frowns, _'Gai invited our team to dinner tonight.'_  
Shiori is silent for a moment, then she nods, 'What time?'  
Kakashi stares at her blankly, so Shiori sighs, 'we're late, aren't we?'  
 _'Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto are probably waiting for us,'_ confirms Kakashi.  
Rolling her eyes, Shiori starts towards where the genin are waiting, Kakashi trailing after her.  
 _'Something occurred to me today,_ ' notes Kakashi to her, feeling vaguely uncomfortable, he doesn't like personal conversations very much, _'We've been having dinner together every night for weeks, but I don't know anything about you.'_  
Shiori shrugs this off, 'I don't know anything about you either.'  
The three genin look positively antsy, Sasuke is scowling more than usual.  
'You're late,' grumbles Naruto, 'I'm so hungry!'  
Kakashi shrugs and gestures for them to follow him.  
'Where have you been, Shiori-sensei?' asks Sakura, voice bright with curiosity.  
'I had an errand to run,' notes Shiori blandly, 'And then I ran into Kakashi.'  
Kakashi's shoulders slump, _'Literally.'_  
They arrive at Gai's house, it's one of Gai's students that answers the door, Lee seems to light up at the sight of Kakashi and his team.  
'Come in,' invites Lee, then he waits patiently as everyone removes their shoes.  
Lee seems particularly interested in Sakura, he quickly pulls out a chair for her to sit on, and beams merrily at her.  
'The food should be ready soon!' exclaims Lee, 'then we will enjoy a mouth youthful meal together.'  
Sakura smiles politely, while Naruto just dances in his chair.  
Moments later Gai comes in, holding an absurd amount of plates, Kakashi fluidly slides to his feet to assist the other in putting them on the table.  
'It's an honour to finally meet you, Shiori-san!' exclaims Gai as he takes his seat, Shiori nods her head back at him but doesn't comment.  
'How long have you lived in Konoha for, Shiori-San?' asks Gai curiously, 'I've never seen you around before.'  
Shiori shrugs, 'All my life, I did leave for a three year mission in my teens, but other than that, I've only ever lived in Konoha.'  
'Are you able to say anything about that mission?'  
Shiori simply shakes her head, she's still wearing both masks and hasn't touched her food yet, unlike Kakashi who inhaled his food as soon as no one was looking at him.  
The conversation now moves on from Shiori, and she starts to sneak bites of food to under her masks whenever she has a moment where no one is looking at her.  
When everyone is done eating, Kakashi is the first to stand, _'Allow me to help with the dishes,'_ he signs to Guy, who hesitates.  
'The guests shouldn't do the washing up,' replies Guy.  
 _'I bet I can wash dishes quicker than you can dry them,'_ challenges Kakashi, he then picks up some of the plates and heads into the kitchen.  
Guy's face lights up, 'a most youthful challenge! I simply cannot refuse.'  
Lee beams, 'I will cheer for you, Sensei! You'll be the speediest person to ever dry dishes!'  
'Thank you, Lee, for always having faith in me!' returns Guy, then the pair begin to cry happily together as Guy sweeps Lee up and swings him around.  
'Oh, wow,' notes Shiori dryly, she now starts herding Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto out of the building, keeping a wary eye on Guy and Lee.  
'I'll walk you all to your homes,' she tells them once they're outside, Naruto beams.  
'I can walk myself home,' sulks Sasuke, Shiori waves him off, 'I'll walk you anyway.'


	5. The cat

Shiori is practically on Kakashi's heels as he follows after their genin - who are currently pursuing a cat.  
'I think I'd make a good Hokage,' notes Shiori to Kakashi in her usual dry voice.  
Kakashi starts slightly, then glances at her before returning his gaze to the genin.  
Shiori snorts at his reaction, 'I was joking of course,' she informs him, 'There's no way I'd ever be Hokage.'  
 _'Well, why not?'_ replies Kakashi, he can see the cat now.  
'Most people of this village have no idea who I am,' observes Shiori.  
Kakashi frowns, _'Why?_ '  
The three genin each give their positions and begin to close in on the cat.  
Shiori drops to the ground soundlessly as Naruto pounces on the cat, the blond cries out as the cat claws him.  
'I hate this cat!' exclaims Naruto as he tries to hold onto the struggling cat.  
 _'Let's get this cat to it's owner,'_ signs Kakashi, he glances to Shiori, noting she had avoided answering the question.  
'Here, let me take that,' Sakura moves forward to take the cat from Naruto, it seems to like her slightly better.  
The cats owner seems overjoyed to see her cat while Sakura just looks concerned for the cat.  
'The thing deserves it,' mutters Naruto to himself, folding his arms haughtily.  
Shiori doesn't comment on this and instead herds genin in to see the Hokage.  
Hiruzen seems somewhat pleased to see them, and his gaze is alight with some emotion Shiori doesn't quite understand.  
She's still wearing her masks, so no one notices her narrow her eyes slightly at him.  
The Hokage chuckles at their mission report, not interrupting as Naruto complains about the cat then starts to list other missions they could possibly take.  
All the missions are easy ones, notes Shiori to herself, d-rank, she'd never been on a large amount of them herself a genin. But now she feels rather pleased that she hadn't, even just supervising the genin doing them is boring.  
Naruto stomps his foot, causing Kakashi to start from where he'd been nearly falling asleep, Shiori snorts at the sight.  
'I don't want more easy stuff! all these d-rank missions are so easy! give us something harder!' exclaims Naruto, waving his arms about.  
Meeting Kakashi's eye, Shiori silently steps forward to wrap one arm around Naruto's shoulders, she covers his mouth with her other hand, while Kakashi lazily signs to the Hokage, _'I'm sorry, he doesn't know what he's saying, we're happy with whatever missions you feel are right.'_  
Shiori stops paying attention to the conversation as she releases Naruto from her grasp and quietly frowns to herself.  
She's barely three centimeters taller than Sasuke, the tallest of the three Genin. Inwardly, Shiori curses her mothers side of the family for being so short, her fathers side of the family certainly hadn't been so short.  
While Shiori isn't paying attention, an old man enters the room, and she's forced to start listening again as the old man exclaims, 'What's this? These brats are supposed to protect me?! That one's just a short twerp.'  
Shiori bristles for a moment, Naruto chuckles for a moment, 'Whose he calling short? Ha'  
Sasuke and Sakura quietly line up next to Shiori, tallest to shortest. Shiori, Sasuke, Sakura, and finally, Naruto.  
Comprehension dawns on Naruto and he immediately starts yelling at the old man, who Shiori now observes to be drunk.  
Kakashi manages to calm Naruto, then the team disperses, arranging to meet in the morning.  
Naruto immediately seeks Kakashi and Shiori out, intent on joining them for dinner.  
Since the dinner at Gai's two months ago, Naruto has been determined to join Kakashi and Shiori for dinners most nights, claiming to enjoy Shiori's cooking.  
Kakashi offers a close eyed smile when Naruto approaches and Shiori waves.  
'You two can go ahead to my house,' Shiori tells them, tossing her house key to Kakashi, 'I need to stop at the grocery store and pick up a couple of things.'  
'Hai!' confirms Naruto, waving back at her then quickly following after Kakashi.  
The weather is nice, and Shiori almost wants to take one of her masks off, she could probably pull off wearing one mask like Kakashi does.  
But then, she's been wearing the two masks since she returned home from her three year long mission, and she rather prefers that no one recognize her face.  
Pausing as she enters the grocery store, she amends herself, Kakashi has seen her face, and Naruto has seen a third of it, she merely wears just her mask that matches Kakashi's when eating dinner.  
The store is quiet as Shiori wanders through, gathering items.  
The employee at the checkout seems barely awake, and doesn't look twice when Shiori approaches.  
Walking home is peaceful, notes Shiori, she pauses and tilts her head back, eyes closed.  
Konoha has nice weather. She's glad she came back to it.  
Both Naruto and Kakashi are patiently waiting for her, Naruto seems to be attempting to talk Kakashi's ear off.  
She removes her black mask as she enters and kicks off her shoes, she aims one shoe for Naruto, and Kakashi leans away as the shoe hits Naruto's head.  
'Hey!' exclaims Naruto, spinning to face her, her goes quiet at the sight of her, 'Will I ever see you without that mask?' he points to the one mask she's left on.  
Shiori shrugs and heads into the kitchen, both Naruto and Kakashi at her heels, 'maybe,' she replies calmly, 'Want to help cook?'  
'Me? really?' Naruto brightens up, and Shiori is taken aback by this, having had no idea he'd be even slightly interested in helping. She's also rather startled at how bright he can get.  
'Sure,' replies Shiori easily, she starts emptying the bag, 'you can dice up some things for me.'  
Naruto eagerly sets about the task - a little too eagerly apparently as he doesn't do it very well and Kakashi steps in to assist.  
'You should start packing for the mission as soon as you get home, Naruto,' Shiori tells him.  
'Yes, Shiori-sensei,' Naruto replies, 'Do you think we'll be away from the village long? I've never been outside of the village.'  
Shiori shrugs, 'Could easily last a few weeks.'  
'Huh,' goes Naruto, mulling this over, 'Have you been outside of the village before, Shiori-sensei?'  
'Of course,' replies Shiori smoothly.  
Naruto squints at her, 'Do ninja always leave the village on missions young? You don't seem very old.'  
There's a moment of silence, Shiori frowns, 'How old do I seem to you?'  
'Oh, uh,' Naruto now looks uncomfortable, 'With the mask that covers your whole face, you seem younger, like, fifteen? With just that one, maybe nineteen?'  
There's a loud crash, Kakashi has dropped the glass he was holding and now seems to be silently wheezing while Shiori is just scowling.  
Naruto shuffles his feet, sitting down the knife he's been using to dice up different vegetables, he frowns, 'How old are you, Shiori-sensei?'  
Shiori's shoulders slump and she sighs, even Kakashi seems interested in her answer, 'Twenty-four,' she tells both males, observing how Kakashi doesn't visibly react.  
'You're old, Shiori-sensei,' Naruto tells her, 'But not as old as the Hokage, he's really old.'  
'Twenty-four isn't old,' Shiori rolls her eyes and turns away.  
'It is old,' insists Naruto, he pauses to try counting, 'it's like . . .' he trails off, apparently struggling to do the math.  
 _'Twelve years older than you?'_ signs Kakashi helpfully, and Naruto nods enthusiastically.  
Then Naruto's eyes go wide, 'that's twice my age!' he exclaims and Shiori snorts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brain: We're going to take a step back from Shiori and not focus on her  
> My sinful hands: What if we had a chapter more focused on her thoughts, oh, and we love short people!


	6. Land of Waves: Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A sketch I drew is included at the end of this chapter, it's of Shiori

Kakashi woke up early so he could spend a few hours at the memorial stone before leaving for the front gate.  
He carried his bag with him so he wouldn't have to go home again.  
He comes to a halt at the sight of somebody else already sitting at the memorial stone, as he nears he begins to realize it's Gai.  
'Kakashi,' greets Gai, 'Don't worry, I'm not staying.'  
Shuffling his feet, Kakashi sits his bag down and waits for Gai to continue.  
'I know it's only a C-rank mission,' starts Gai, then he seems to hesitate, 'But please look after yourself, and trust Shiori, I want to see you come back.'  
Kakashi falters then offers a close eyed smile, _'Of course I'll come back.'_  
'Okay then, I look forward to your return, eternal rival! May your mission be most youthful!' Gai strikes a pose for several long moments before leaving.  
Kakashi now quietly kneels in front of the memorial stone, sighing and quietly closing his eyes.  
When he next opens his eyes, he's immediately aware that he isn't alone.  
Shiori is kneeling rather peacefully at his side, her gaze on the stone, she isn't wearing either of her masks, and Kakashi takes the moment to soak in what her face looks like entirely uncovered.  
'Ready to go?' asks Shiori, voice low, she pulls up her navy blue mask from where it hangs loosely around her neck so it goes up over her nose again.  
With a nod, Kakashi stands, he notes that Shiori is wearing her hitai-ate for once, it's around her waist at the end of her crop top, it has the look of being an item that finishes her entire look.  
His gaze must of lingered on it too long, because Shiori winks at him before pulling her black mask on.  
'Let's stop and collect Naruto,' notes Shiori, 'I want to make sure he packs properly.'  
Kakashi quietly nods, shoving his hands into his pockets.  
The district Naruto lives in isn't a good one, and this fact is glaringly obvious. People glare at Kakashi from doorways, one person spits at his feet.  
Shiori doesn't take any note of this and Kakashi wonders if she comes here often.  
The Ito doesn't knock before entering Naruto's apartment, and Kakashi notes that she has a key, he wonders how he didn't notice this.  
There's a bag sitting by the front door, and some general clutter on the kitchen bench, but the apartment in general is tidier than Kakashi expected.  
Shiori disappears into the bedroom for several moments then is immediately back in the kitchen throwing together a bowl of cereal and fruit with practiced ease, she has it on the table by time Naruto stumbles out.  
The blond seems surprised to see Kakashi, but he still mumbles a greeting.  
'Did you have breakfast?' asks Shiori as she combs through Naruto's fridge, she glances over her shoulder to watch for an answer from Kakashi.  
There's a moment of hesitation then Kakashi shakes his head.  
Shiori rolls her eyes at this, not that either male sees, she turns back to the fridge, 'I'll make you a bowl of cereal with fruit, don't worry Naruto, I'll get you more groceries when we get back from the mission.'  
The blond waves her off, he doesn't seem to be properly awake.  
Once Kakashi is seated with his breakfast, Shiori heads over to the bag Naruto has placed by the door and starts digging through it. After a few moments she disappears into the bedroom, returning with an armful of things.  
'Shiori-sensei sometimes comes in the mornings,' Naruto informs Kakashi, 'She helps me keep my place tidy and sometimes takes me grocery shopping.'  
This is news to Kakashi, but he supposes it does seem plausible.  
'We better get going,' decides Shiori, apparently done with Naruto's bag.  
Naruto reluctantly finishes his breakfast and shoves both his own bowl and Kakashi's into the sink, Shiori winces but leaves it.  
'Sakura is probably already at the front gate, but Sasuke is probably just readying to leave so we'll stop in at his place and walk with him to the front gate,' decides Shiori, she doesn't offer any choices to Naruto or Kakashi.  
'Shiori-sensei, what's your family like?' questions Naruto as they walk.  
Shiori shrugs, 'Never knew my father, my mother was a hard working woman, she wasn't a ninja or anything, she died twelve years ago.'  
There's silence then, 'She died the year I was born?' asks Naruto, his voice is loud, but Kakashi notes that it seems the blond has somewhat tried to make it sound softer.  
'Yeah,' answers Shiori, her voice doesn't give any hint of emotion away, and Kakashi notes to himself that it seldom does.  
Sasuke is just leaving his apartment when they arrive, and Kakashi isn't surprised to see that Sasuke isn't living in the Uchiha district.  
'Hn,' goes Sasuke when he notices them, he doesn't seem surprised and quietly starts walking beside Naruto.  
The blond immediately starts chattering, full of excitement about going outside the village.  
Sakura is already waiting, the old man - Tazuna - is sat on the ground near her, already drunk.  
 _'Let's go,'_ signs Kakashi on approach, _'the earlier we leave the better.'_  
Tazuna stumbles to his feet, pointing to Kakashi with his thumb, 'is he deaf? Hows a deaf person supposed to keep me safe?'  
'He isn't deaf,' replies Shiori shortly.  
'Oh man!' crows Naruto as they leave the village behind, 'this is so great!'  
'Hn,' goes Sasuke, feigning an air of disinterest, but Kakashi notes how the young Uchiha is looking around at everything, seemingly trying to soak every sight in.  
The three genin start talking with Tazuna as they walk, Sakura seems surprised at how much information he has.  
'You should teach me the Chidori,' Shiori tells Kakashi, elbowing his side.  
Kakashi considers, _'Why?'_  
'Why not?' returns Shiori, 'It's a cool jutsu.'  
 _'I'm not sure you can do it,'_ confesses Kakashi, _'I only finished it after I received the Sharingan.'_  
Shiori shrugs, 'How about you teach me anyway? Can't hurt to try.'  
There's a pause then, _'You could injure yourself while trying,'_ notes Kakashi.  
'Yeah, and I could also walk into a tree, we're Shinobi, we get hurt sometimes.'  
 _'You really think you'd be likely to walk into a tree?'_ returns Kakashi, he notes the presence of a puddle, decides not to comment on it.  
'Anything's possible.  
Both Jonin now move forward so they can speak to the genin, before any of the genin notice them they both use the clone jutsu, allowing the clones to join the genin.  
'Has the land of Waves been struggling in terms of money lately?' the question is out of the blue, and Shiori's voice is as bland as ever.  
Tazuna starts, nearly trips, 'Excuse me?!'  
Sakura's eyes have gone wide, she looks like she wants to comment but she remains silent, Kakashi only sighs.  
'Seems odd that you'd want Genin protecting you,' Shiori shrugs, doesn't press on the issue.  
But now Sasuke seems wary, and is gazing about with some suspicion, Sakura seems to want to talk to him, but she hangs back.  
And when two ninja come bursting out of a puddle, Sasuke is the first to react, his eyes alight.  
A gasp escapes Sakura and she moves to stand in front of Tazuna, a kunei in her grasp.  
Shiori seems to dissolve into water when hit, and from the trees the real Shiori shrugs at the real Kakashi, who doesn't seem impressed.  
'Shiori-sensei?' Sakura seems confused, but her attention is quickly caught Kakashi is taken down, 'Kakashi-sensei!'  
'Never mind that right now, Sakura!' snarls Sasuke, blocking an attack with his kunei.  
'This seems silly,' notes Shiori to Kakashi, 'they're obviously after Tazuna.'  
Kakashi shrugs, _'Can't hurt to be sure,'_ he still winces when a blade makes contact with Naruto's skin.  
At the sight of blood, Shiori lunges forward, freeing her tanto as she does, she targets the one that's wearing a gauntlet on his left hand.  
There's a moment where Kakashi hesitates then he shifts into action.  
He sees a glint of something in the corner of his eye, but doesn't focus on it, swiftly dispatching the missing-nin Sasuke is trying to fend off.  
When he turns, he sees Shiori has somehow plunged her tanto deep into her targets chest. She now sits perched on his chest, still gripping the tanto.  
Naruto seems to have been stunned into stillness, and he cringes back as Shiori roughly yanks her tanto free.  
  



	7. Land of Waves: Part 2

There's silence as Shiori holds up her bloodied tanto, she isn't quite sure how she should be reacting.  
Death is no big deal to her of course. She's a ninja, and she's been one for quite a long time.  
But she wasn't quite sure what the genin expect of her, or how Kakashi will react to this, she knows Kakashi is no stranger to blood.  
'Excuse me,' murmurs Shiori, whisper quiet, she retreats to the upper branches of one of the nearby trees, pulling her bag off she starts cleaning the tanto.  
A few flecks of blood have started to dry and seem determined to stay in place.  
She can faintly hear her team grilling Tazuna but focuses on cleaning her tanto. A good ninja needs their tools. A good ninja is a tool. Shiori's shoulders slump.  
It takes her half an hour to have the blade shining again, and she slides it back into it's place somewhat reluctantly.  
There's a tap on her arm, Kakashi is now perched next to her.  
 _'The missions ranking has probably bumped up,'_ he tells her, _'The genin are willing to continue with it.'_  
Shiori nods but doesn't comment, she follows Kakashi back to where the genin are waiting.  
None of the Genin seem particularly emotional, and Shiori wonders what Kakashi has said to them.  
She quietly takes Kakashi's hand in her own as they walk, and he shoots her a curious look but doesn't pull his hand free.  
At the water, a boat is already waiting for them.  
Naruto bounces up to it, filled with excitement, but he doesn't board, instead politely offering Sakura a hand to assist her onto it.  
There's a man on the boat watching them with some wariness, apparently ready to row rather than using the engine.  
Kakashi's hands are slightly too quick for Naruto to follow when he tells them that they need to be quiet on the water as to not attract attention.  
At Naruto's confused expression, Sakura quickly translates to him and adds more explanation.  
'The Land of the Waves hasn't been doing well lately,' Tazuna relates to them, 'All because of one man, a business man.'  
'Gato, he's controlling the boats in and out of the land of Waves, and has us all under his thumb,' scowls Tazuna, 'that's why we need the bridge, and I'm the bridge builder.'  
He fell quiet after that, quietly cradling his drink.  
Kakashi idly rubbed circles into the side of Shiori's hand with his thumb, noting how rough her hands where, there were also faintly healed scars that looked like they'd been caused by burns.  
Her nails were also short, and slightly cracked at the end. Kakashi thought of Sakura's nails, the genin's nails were always well done, just like her hair.  
Naruto is the first to spot land ahead, and he taps Kakashi's arm excitedly, pointing ahead, Naruto's movements are slightly awkward as he signs, ' _Look! We're nearly there!'_  
As soon as they all clamber off the boat, the man on it starts up the engine and takes off without a comment.  
 _'Be careful, and be on your guard,'_ signs Kakashi to his team, glancing around warily as he does.  
Shiori walks at the back of the group now, her hands shoved into her pockets, she doesn't comment as Naruto throws weapons into bushes, almost spearing a white rabbit.  
She does however eye the rabbit with some wariness, noting the thickness of it's fur.  
Then Kakashi has a hand on her elbow and is yanking her downwards, his other hand on Sakura, while Sasuke tugs Naruto and Tazuna down. The sword that flies over just misses them all.  
'Kakashi of the Sharingan eye,' drawls a voice, and they turn to see the large sword has stuck into a tree and a man now stands perched on it.  
'Zabuza Momochi,' notes Shiori dryly.  
Kakashi inclines his head towards Shiori and signs, _'ex-leader of the hidden mist assassination unit, and master of the silent killing technique.'_  
From where he'd been carefully watching Kakashi's hands, Sasuke's eyes go slightly wider but the young Uchiha still seems slightly distracted by the mention of the Sharingan also.  
Interest flashes through Zabuza's eyes at the sight of Kakashi using sign language, 'I forgot you had gone mute, how long since you stopped talking? Ten years?'  
Kakashi shrugs and doesn't bother replying, and now Zabuza turns his gaze to the rest of the group, apparently not recognizing any of them outside of the bridge builder.  
Naruto now steps forward, apparently ready to fight, but Shiori is quick to grab his arm and yank him back much to his annoyance.  
'He's too strong for you,' murmurs Shiori in a low drawl, 'he's in a whole other league.'  
With a nod to Shiori, Kakashi now reaches up to straighten his headband, Sasuke's breath seems to escape him at the sight.  
'Going all out, Sharingan included,' observes Zabuza, 'that's a shame, but you'll just have to hand over the old man.'  
Kakashi glances over his shoulder at Shiori, raising an eyebrow before gesturing to the genin.  
'Ah, yes, quick, Monji formation,' orders Shiori, 'protect the bridge builder and stay out of this fight,' her voice is firm on this point, 'We've done our best to teach you teamwork, now is the time to use it.'  
The genin quickly move, and Kakashi regards Zabuza with a bored gaze.  
'Looks like I get to see the Sharingan in action,' notes Zabuza, 'what an honor.'  
It seems Naruto has now decided he doesn't want to remain silent, as he now bursts out with, 'What is the Sharingan!'  
With a sigh, Shiori looks away from the genin, signing an idle, _'oh my god,'_ to Kakashi.  
'Sharingan,' starts Sasuke, 'A rare power passed down through the blood line can comprehend any tai, gen or ninjutsu by just looking at it, reflecting the attack back on the attacker. Although it's rare even for a doujutsu or bloodline limit.'  
Shiori inclines her head, 'and that's barely scratching the surface of it,' she ruffles Naruto's hair, and before Zabuza can make any comment, Shiori is pulling her tanto free and lunging towards him.  
Zabuza's eyes widen just slightly and he hops off his sword and out of the way of Shiori's attack, the female easily redirects her attack but pauses when Zabuza yanks his sword free of the tree.  
There's a moment when Zabuza's sword is blocked by Shiori's tanto, and Zabuza seems to shiver, there's a strange glint to Shiori's tanto.  
'Don't let it touch you,' murmurs Shiori, and Zabuza's eyes narrow.  
Zabuza now seems intent on disarming Shiori, and Kakashi watches the fight continue, eyes alight with curiosity.  
After a bit, Shiori nods to Zabuza and returns her tanto to its sheathe on her back, slipping into taijutsu seamlessly.  
'This is a lovely fight and all,' drawls Zabuza, 'but you know, people to kill,' he grabs Shiori's arm and bodily swings her before smashing the elbow of his other arm into her face.  
Shiori's black mask immediately shatters and she almost drops to her knees, but Zabuza still has a tight grip on her arm, a shard of the mask has cut her forehead, the cut is jagged, spearing through her eyebrow and ending two centimeters above her eye.  
'Shiori-sensei!' gasps Sakura, covering her mouth with both hands.  
Zabuza releases her arm and turns to Kakashi, 'And now for you, jounin, as a member of the assassination unit, we had an order to destroy you on sight, your profile was in our bingo book,' he ignores the fact Shiori hasn't yet moved from where she's resting on her knees, 'it called you "The man who had copied over a thousand jutsu Kakashi the Copy Ninja."  
The mist seemed to roll in, making it near impossible to see even a few meters in any direction.  
'I suppose I'll have to take you down first to reach my target,' drawls Zabuza.  
Shiori tilts her head to the side and gazes upwards as Zabuza appears on the lake next to where the rest of team seven is standing.  
 _'He'll come after me next,'_ Kakashi strides forward without hesitation.  
Sakura seemed to be shaking slightly as she tried to look around to see where Shiori was, 'But who is he, Sensei?'  
Kakashi turns slightly so the genin will be able to see his hands as he signs, _'Zabuza Momochi is a master of the silent kill. He has a fearsome past and lives for the thrill of the hunt, the silent kill can happen in an instant without sound or warning of any kind. Its so fast you pass from this life without realizing what has happened, the Sharingan can't fully neutralize it so don't lower your guard.'_  
There's a moment where the genin feel fear just sink into them, and Sasuke tries his best to look unaffected.  
Kakashi's gaze is almost bored as he notes, _'Well, if we fail, we only lose our lives.'_  
'Don't be ridiculous,' comes a low drawl, Shiori has moved to stand at Kakashi's back, her back against his, blood is still flowing from the cut on her head and she has the eye below it closed. Both Sasuke and Sakura try to not stare, as this is the first time either of them have seen her without the black mask.  
The mist then thickens around them, shrouding both Kakashi and Shiori so the genin can't see them any more.  
'Shiori-sensei!' fear quivers through Sakura's voice, and her grip on her kunei tightens as she gazes into the thick mist around them.


	8. Land of Waves: Part 3

There's a pause, then a steady static noise, Kakashi doesn't turn to see whatever Shiori is doing, trusting that she wont harm him.  
Zabuza seems to be quietly circling, deciding where to attack him, something is stopping him from moving forward and Kakashi frowns at the thought.  
Finally Zabuza lunges forward, Kakashi ducks a blow, doesn't see how Shiori reacts.  
On his way past, Zabuza swings his sword at the genin and Tazuna, but Shiori flips into the path of the sword, deflecting it with her tanto, she seems unbothered by the fact she only has use of one eye. And now that Kakashi can see her clearly, he sees lightning sparking down her tanto, just barely visible.  
When Zabuza's sword collides with the tanto, a spark seems to run down his sword and Zabuza falls apart, becoming water. Behind her, Naruto gasps at the sight.  
'Sensei! Behind you!' yells Naruto, pointing frantically behind Kakashi.  
There's a split second where Kakashi's eyes widen then he spins around in time to see Zabuza swing his sword, slicing Kakashi in half.  
The blood that flies free turns to water and Zabuza swears, seeing that Kakashi has copied his jutsu.  
A wild laugh fills the air and everyone pauses to glance to Shiori, her eyes don't show any trace of amusement but she's laughing all the same, she tilts her head to the side as she meets Zabuza's gaze, laughter cut off abruptly, 'better watch your back.' she tells Zabuza.  
Kakashi reappears, a kunei held to Zabuza's neck, 'Don't move,' taunts Shiori, 'Now it's over.'  
'Finished?' questions Zabuza, eyes narrowing, 'you don't get it, your technique is nothing but a poor imitation, I'll never be defeated by the likes of you or your little sparky friend,' Zabuza tells Kakashi then spins away from him, bursting into water as another Zabuza appears behind Shiori.  
Shiori immediately ducks when she sees Kakashi's expression, Zabuza's sword narrowly missing her and she scowls at the sight.  
'Sparky friend?' drawls Shiori, leaping over Zabuza's sword now, 'Not very creative of you.'  
Zabuza shrugs, 'I don't need to be creative, you'll be dead soon anyway.'  
A chuckle escapes Shiori and she fluidly steps back to allow Kakashi to take her place, she curtsies as she does so and Zabuza snorts at her before focusing on Kakashi.  
'Let's see you copy this,' declares Zabuza, launching into a series of hand signs, Kakashi inclines his head and seems to do the exact same hand signs Zabuza is doing at the same time.  
Two large water dragons come lunging out of the lake, and Shiori rolls out of the way when one goes her way, a tap from her tanto sends all the water splashing back down and she doesn't get to see Zabuza fend off the other one.  
'You think wearing a head band makes you a ninja,' drawls Zabuza as he starts another water jutsu, Kakashi still copying him, 'When you've hovered between life and death so many times it doesn't faze you, that's when you're a real ninja,' this seems to be directed towards the genin, Sakura shivers.  
Zabuza then does another jutsu, and the three genin all watch as Kakashi is captured in what seems to be a bubble.  
Smirking, Zabuza holds out his arm to maintain the jutsu, Kakashi seems to struggle within his watery prison but is unable to get free so he turns his gaze towards Shiori expectantly.  
Shiori seems to be considering her options, she absently raises an arm to wipe blood from her face, opening the eye she'd kept closed.  
'Shiori-sensei!' exclaims Naruto, pointing frantically towards Zabuza and Kakashi, 'you gotta do something! Put your pointy thing through his chest like you did with the other guy!'  
Sakura blanches at this but says nothing but Zabuza looks slightly curious.  
'Hmm,' goes Shiori, she unties her hitai-ate and proceeds to tie it around her head, tilting it so it covers the wound going through her eyebrow and soaks up the blood.  
She figures she'll need her full vision.  
There's a very slight tremor to her hands as she raises her tanto and tilts her head before lunging forward, unable to move his arm, Zabuza seems to struggle to dodge each swipe of the tanto.  
'Not quite fast enough there,' grunts Zabuza, and Shiori shrugs.  
One handed, Zabuza grips his sword and swings it around at full speed, Shiori barely sees it move, and then she feels the blunt side of it hit her stomach.  
Her breath escapes her and she feels her grip on her tanto loosen, the weapon falling to the ground.  
She's thrown into a tree, and she sees her vision swim before everything goes dark.  
Sakura's breath also escapes her, but for a rather different reason.  
'We have to help Kakashi-sensei!' whispers Naruto to Sakura and Sasuke.  
Sasuke nods in agreement, he seems to be eyeing Shiori's tanto.  
Naruto apparently decides to skip thinking, he pulls out a kunei and leaps at Zabuza, apparently aiming for the arm he's using to maintain the jutsu keeping Kakashi trapped.  
It's almost too easy for Zabuza to kick the genin back, with a sneer Zabuza talks again, 'Pathetic whelps like you aren't ninja, only when you've become so deadly to have your file entered in my bingo book then you may have earned the title ninja, but to call upstarts like yourselves ninja is a joke.'  
'Don't underestimate me!' exclaims Naruto, 'I'm going to be a great ninja, so great that I'm going to be Hokage one day, and you better believe it!'  
Zabuza snorts in response and doesn't say anything.  
Quickly thinking, Naruto draws out a shuriken and throws it to Sasuke, there's a moment where Sasuke considers it then he nods to Naruto, throwing the Shuriken at Zabuza.  
Zabuza easily catches the shuriken, but is forced to leap over a second shuriken that'd been hiding in it's shadow, 'Was that supposed to hit me?' mocks Zabuza, he doesn't see when the second shuriken transforms into Naruto.  
The blond grins and raises a thumb at Kakashi before throwing a kunei, Zabuza growls as he's forced to drop the jutsu.  
_'Get back to Tazuna,'_ signs Kakashi quickly, engaging in combat with Zabuza once again.  
Naruto hesitates, 'What about Shiori-sensei?'  
Kakashi can barely pause to sign, _'Grab her tanto, go back to Tazuna, she'll be fine.'_  
The tanto seems almost dull where it is, the blade digging into the earth slightly, Naruto easily tugs it free as he passes it but it's heavier than he expected.  
Now Kakashi readies a finishing blow, ignoring the steady gaze of Zabuza, but before he can land the blow, Zabuza slumps to the ground, several senbon sticking out of his neck.  
A masked ninja appears, nodding to Kakashi, 'I'm sorry about that, I've been on his trail for quite some time now, I'll deal with this.'  
'Wait, what?' Naruto goes to move forward but Kakashi catches his arm and allows the masked ninja to disappear with Zabuza's body.  
'That's crap!' exclaims Naruto, 'it cant just end like that.'  
_'Save your anger for the next enemy,'_ signs Kakashi, _'we still need to complete this mission, we still need to take the bridge builder to his bridge.'_  
Tazuna looks uncomfortable, 'Sorry I caused so much trouble, you can all rest at my house back at the village.'  
Kakashi nods in agreement, and starts for Shiori, moving his hitai-ate to cover his eye as he goes, but then rather than making it to his teammate, Kakashi abruptly slumps to the ground instead.  
A gasp makes its way out of Sakura and she quickly goes to his side, 'He must have completely exhausted himself,' she tells the others.  
'We can't carry both Shiori-sensei and Kakashi-sensei back to Tazuna's house,' Sasuke is frowning.  
'Maybe we can try waking Shiori-sensei up?' suggests Naruto, heading towards their unconscious sensei, he still has the tanto in one hand.  
Sakura doesn't look like she thinks this will work but she follows after him all the same.  
They come to a halt next to Shiori, Naruto glances to Sakura, 'How do we wake her?'  
'How should I know, you idiot!' exclaims Sakura, scowling at him, 'I thought you had an idea of how.'  
'Oh,' goes Naruto and glances back at Shiori, then he looks to her tanto in his hand, face lighting up.  
Sakura's eyes narrow, 'you cant stab her to wake her up, Naruto!'  
Snorting, Naruto waves her off, 'I wasn't planning on stabbing her, Sakura-chan! That'd be ridiculous.'  
The blond now creeps forward, and shifts his grip on the tanto, he gently returns the tanto to Shiori's hands then straightens up with a grin on his face.  
They all stare at Shiori for a moment before Tazuna speaks up, 'was that supposed to do something?' Naruto's shoulders slump.  
'Hmm?' Shiori hums, as she blinks groggily, she squints at the genin before her, 'What happened?'  
Naruto brightens up, 'You got knocked out,' he tells her, 'but I returned your sharp thingy to you.'  
'Ah,' Shiori stands, stumbling as she does so, she notices Kakashi and her eyes widen.  
'We think it's just exhaustion,' exclaims Sakura, 'Tazuna said we can stay at his house.'  
Shiori nods uncertainly and moves over to Kakashi, passing her bag and his to Naruto and Sasuke, the jounin quickly hefts Kakashi up onto her back, her height causes Kakashi's feet to drag on the ground and Shiori scowls, silently daring the genin to comment.  
Naruto only coughs, and the genin otherwise stay quiet.  
Tazuna on the other hand chuckles but goes pale at Shiori's deadly glare.  
  
===============================  
  
Shiori sits perched on the windowsill in Kakashi's room. He's still unconscious and she's starting to feel irate.  
The door opens, and Shiori automatically turns her face away from whoever has entered the room, with her black mask broken she finds herself feeling deeply uncomfortable with anyone's gaze on her.  
'Shiori-sensei?' it's Sakura.  
Shiori hums in response, gaze focused on the land she can see out the window.  
'Do you think Kakashi-sensei is going to be okay?' there's a quiver to Sakura's voice, and Shiori is able to hear it when Sakura moves to perch in the chair next to the bed Kakashi is resting on.  
'Of course he'll be fine, but when he wakes up we need to discuss the possibility that Zabuza is still alive.'  
There's a sharp intake of breath, 'You really think he's still alive?'  
'Whose still alive?' Naruto asks as he enters the room, Sasuke on his heels.  
Shiori briefly glances to the two males, looking over both to check for any obvious injuries, she'd set them up outside to practice using their chakra to walk up trees and they'd been a little rough at it.  
As soon as she notes the lack of injuries she turns her head away again, 'Zabuza, usually hunter-nin dispose of the body on the spot, that one took Zabuza's body away instead.'  
'So there's a possibility that the hunter-nin was an ally of Zabuza's?' asks Sakura.  
'Yep.'  
Naruto moves forward so he stands in front of Shiori, 'so we should be on our guard?'  
Shiori frowns at Naruto, 'Even if Zabuza was alive, we'd still have to be on guard, Zabuza isn't the only missing-nin that Gato could hire.'  
There's a low moan and everyone goes quiet, Shiori is immediately at Kakashi's side as the copy cat nin wakes up.  
He opens his eyes slowly and regards them rather groggily.  
'Kakashi-sensei!' cheers Naruto, he quickly moves forward to stand at the end of the bed.  
 _'Your mask,_ ' is the first thing Kakashi signs, he seems to be frowning at Shiori, he reaches out and runs his thumb along the cut through her eyebrow.  
There's a sigh from Sasuke, 'Shiori-sensei was just telling us that Zabuza might be alive still.'  
Shiori nods, 'The hunter-nin seemed odd, don't you think?'  
Kakashi sorts through his memory of the hunter-nin for a moment then nods, he immediately pulls himself up into a sitting up position, his gaze soaking in the room around him.  
'We're at Tazuna's house,' notes Shiori, she glances to the genin, 'you three should get back to walking up trees.'  
Sakura shoots Kakashi a hesitant look then follows Sasuke and Naruto out of the room.  
Frowning, Kakashi tugs his mask down, _'you have them walking up trees?'_  
'For chakra control,' replies Shiori blandly, 'I'm not sure there's much we can do to prepare them for facing Zabuza again.'  
There's a pause, Kakashi sighs, _'that tanto, it doesn't seem normal.'_  
'It isn't,' replies Shiori, she pulls the tanto out of it's sheathe and presents it to Kakashi, 'It's made specially so I can run chakra through it, and if I change that chakra to be more lightning natured,' she pauses and tilts her head, 'it gets a little shocking, it delivers a better shock with the tanto makes contact with skin or clothing, it has potential for improvement, knowing the Chidori sure could help me.'  
Kakashi considers this then points to where his gear is sitting, Shiori raises an eyebrow but moves over to his stuff, leaving her own tanto in Kakashi's hands.  
Among Kakashi's things rests a tanto, similar to her own but with a small circular hand-guard, Shiori picks it up and returns to Kakashi's side.  
 _'It was my fathers,'_ Kakashi notes to her.  
Shiori's eyes light up, and she immediately adjusts her grip and twirls the tanto, watching the white streak of chakra it produced, Kakashi snorted at the sight.  
She grinned at him and returned his tanto to where the rest of his things were sitting before picking her own up and returning it to it's sheathe.  
 _'I'll start trying to teach you the Chidori as soon as I can walk,'_ Kakashi tells her, _'it's odd seeing you without your black mask around the genin.'_  
Grimacing, Shiori glances away for a moment, 'I haven't gotten a new one yet, I'm unsure where I can find one in this village,' she gestures to Kakashi, 'It's not often I see you without your mask.'  
Kakashi shrugs, _'You seemed uncomfortable, I thought I'd make it even.'_  
Snorting, Shiori turns for the door, 'I better go check on our adorable students.'  
Outside, Sasuke and Naruto are still working hard, while Sakura is perched up at the top of her tree.  
Shiori tilts her head back to gaze up at Sakura for a moment before speaking in a low drawl, 'Hmm, it seems the female of this team is going to have to be the Hokage instead, and perhaps someone isn't quite so fit to be doing any avenging.'  
Naruto stops to glare, 'I am going to be Hokage one day,' he tells her, 'And I will beat this tree!'  
Sakura carefully makes her way down from the tree, 'Is it a good idea to taunt them like that?' she asks, eyes wide.  
Shrugging, Shiori glances up at Kakashi's window, 'Gotta motivate them somehow.'  
The front door of Tazuna's house creeks open, and Kakashi comes hobbling out, using a crutch Tazuna's daughter has provided for him, his mask his back in place and he offers up a close eyed smile as he approaches.  
Concern fills Sakura's eyes, 'should you be up so soon, Kakashi-sensei?'  
 _'Shiori wanted me to teach her a jutsu,'_ Kakashi explains, watching Sasuke and Naruto.  
'And it couldn't wait until you get better?' Sakura is frowning now, and Kakashi waves her off instead of answering, Shiori looks faintly amused.  
'First up, lets have Sakura take her chakra control a step further,' drawls Shiori, gaze locked on Sakura, who immediately starts to look uncomfortable.  
Kakashi tilts his head, _'What are you thinking?'_  
'Water walking,' states Shiori simply, she gestures for Sakura to follow her with one hand.  
 _'I see,'_ signs Kakashi, following them for a bit, _'I'm going to send a messenger hawk to Konoha, let them know how things have developed.'_  
They reach a nearby pond, Shiori nods to Kakashi, 'Enjoy, setting Sakura up shouldn't take long.'  
Kakashi nods and turns back towards Tazuna's house, already mentally writing out the letters he plans on sending.  
He's also going to send a letter to a store he knows well to order a new sword, the store isn't inside Konoha and isn't known very well, but hopefully the store will be able to send the sword to Konoha before he returns there with Team 7.  
The second letter is to a store that's inside Konoha, requesting a simple black mask be made, he doubts Shiori will have planned ahead in regards to getting a new mask.  
And finally, the letter to the Hokage.  
He sighs as he starts on the final letter, he's always disliked writing more formal things.  
'I totally want that cool sword Zabuza has,' drawls a voice from behind Kakashi just half an hour later. He turns to see that Shiori has entered the room.  
She regards him with a level gaze.  
 _'You want everything,'_ observes Kakashi, _'You want to know the Chidori, you'd probably love using my fathers tanto, and now you want Zabuza's sword.'_  
Shrugging, Shiori moves forward, 'Sakura's catching on quick with her chakra control, she'd be good at medical jutsu.'  
 _'We could have her spend some working at the hospital, maybe one of the medic-nin will be willing to train her a little,'_ answers Kakashi without hesitation.  
==========================  
  
 _'Your hands,'_ notes Kakashi, _'they already have burns on them.'_  
The jounin are sitting on a tree stump, watching the genin train, it's been a few days now but Sasuke and Naruto are still struggling with their chakra control.  
A wary smile that's barely visible through her mask appears on Shiori's face, 'I heard about you when I was younger,' she answers, 'you and your one thousand jutsus, the Chidori always took my interest the most, so I tried to create a jutsu in it's likeness, didn't work out so well,' she waggles her fingers at him in amusement.  
Kakashi considers her hands for a bit, _'They'll only get worse while I try to teach you the Chidori.'_  
Shrugging, Shiori glances to the genin, 'I gave up on having pretty clear skin a long time ago,' she tells him.  
They had already spent one full day working on Shiori learning the chidori, and she liked to think her chances for being able to somewhat use it against Zabuza were good.  
 _'Tunnel vision,'_ Kakashi sighs, _'The only reason I can use the chidori is because my sharingan.'_  
'There's a lot of ways you could take the chidori to make it more deadly,' observes Shiori.  
Kakashi eyes her, _'you don't seem worried about being at a disadvantage with this jutsu.'_  
Sakura now comes over to them, she's soaking wet from having fallen into the pond a few times, 'Kakashi-sensei, I was thinking of going into the village to do some shopping? I want to help Tsunami with dinner tonight.'  
 _'Shiori can take you,'_ replies Kakashi almost immediately, ignoring how Shiori raises an eyebrow at him.  
Sakura hesitates but turns to Shiori with a smile, 'whenever you're ready, Shiori-sensei.'  
The jounin reluctantly stands, 'may as well go now,' she pauses to regard Sakura, 'you're entirely wet.'  
'Oh, right, I should dry off.'  
A strange glint enters Shiori's eyes, and Kakashi's own eye narrows as he eyes her warily.  
'Stay right there, Kashi,' Shiori tells him, then bodily moves Sakura by putting her hands on the younger girls shoulders.  
Kakashi frantically signs something to Shiori, which she brushes off, turning to Sakura, 'I suggest you don't move an inch,' exclaims Shiori cheerfully before she starts doing hand-seals quickly.  
Then she's holding a hand to her mouth, breathing out a large jet of fire.  
Being so close to the fire makes Sakura feel like she's fallen into the pits of hell, or at least like she's stumbled into a very hot summer day, steam very quickly rises off her clothing, and she doesn't need a mirror to know her hair has become a frizzy mess from having dried so quickly.  
The fire comes to a halt, now Sasuke and Naruto have stopped their training to stare, Sakura coughs at the sudden cold from the fire being gone.  
Kakashi just sits with his shoulders slumped, staring at his feet.  
 _Fire jutsu are not supposed to be used to dry off wet genin._  
  



	9. Land of Waves: Part 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I merged the old chapter nine into chapter eight, just because the whole Land of Waves thing might be taking up too many chapters?  
> Chapters also might be posted less often, trying for longer ones rather than updating so often.

Now dry, Sakura heads into the village with Shiori.  
She can't help but feel some awe towards her sensei.  
Sakura hoped she could be as strong as both of her sensei one day, and she wondered if she'd ever be able to use a tanto like Shiori does one day.  
As they walk into the village, Shiori idly twirls her tanto and Sakura is slightly wary of the barely visible lightning crackling around it.  
Seeing the stalls so bare is startling to Sakura, and there's an obvious lack of meat, something Sakura doesn't quite understand.  
'Do we need meat?' asks Shiori when Sakura points that out to her.  
'I guess not,' frowns Sakura in return, 'let's go look in one of their clothing stores,' she decides.  
Shiori follows Sakura in without protest much to Sakura's surprise. She'd always assumed that her sensei wasn't very interested in appearance.  
Not that Shiori was messy looking, or bad looking. She was pretty, Sakura supposed, short and on the slender side with pale skin that never seemed to break out. (Not that Sakura could really comment on this, having only ever seen Shiori with her face covered until her black mask was broken.)  
Shiori does seem somewhat interested but she doesn't look at the same clothes Sakura does.  
There isn't many options, but this doesn't seem too surprising to Sakura now that she's seen some of the stalls throughout the village.  
While Sakura is trying on a dress, Shiori purchases something but doesn't bother showing it to Sakura.  
'We better get food and return to Tazuna's house,' Sakura sighs, putting the dress back.  
Shiori nods quietly in agreement, she has a tight grip on the bag her purchases have been put in.  
It's hard to decide what foods to buy, Sakura thinks, there's very little of anything, and what there is, is small and awkward looking.  
No doubt Tsunami will understand anyway.  
Kakashi is still perched watching Sasuke and Naruto train, looking like he hasn't moved an inch. But his gaze is immediately drawn to the bag Shiori is holding.  
Shiori only shrugs at him and follows Sakura inside.  
'Sensei!' exclaims Naruto loudly, coming over to stand by the tree stump Kakashi is perched on, 'are you and Shiori-sensei going to teach us how to do that fire jutsu! It looked so awesome!'  
 _'Sasuke already knows it,'_ notes Kakashi, _'and that jutsu isn't right for you or Sakura.'_  
Naruto pouts, 'then what jutsu are you going to teach me?'  
 _'None until you control your chakra better, having a large amount of chakra isn't an excuse to have poor chakra control.'  
_ Sakura comes bounding out then, 'Dinners going to be ready in twenty minutes,' she informs them and eyes Naruto distastefully, 'you should get cleaned up.'  
She then turns in runs back inside, hair fluttering along behind her.  
'Do you think Shiori-sensei knows a water jutsu to clean me instantly?!?' exclaims Naruto loudly, eyes wide.  
Kakashi seems to consider this, then he shrugs, _'I've only ever seen her use one water jutsu and it wouldn't be useful for cleaning.'_  
'I'll ask her!' Naruto immediately takes off running inside, and Kakashi just sighs.  
Sasuke stops training, a rather reluctant look to him and heads inside, presumably to tidy himself up.  
Inside, Kakashi finds Shiori sat at the table, looking rather bored.  
 _'Didn't have a water jutsu to clean Naruto?'_ asks Kakashi, sitting next to her.  
Shiori snorts, 'I do, but I doubt Naruto could stay still enough for me to dry him off with a fire jutsu,' she pauses to wink at him, 'fried genin generally isn't on the menu.'  
Tazuna's grandson, Inari, now enters the room, hesitating at the sight of the two jounin but still taking a seat at the table,Tazuna himself is close behind him.  
Sasuke and Naruto enter the room together, Sasuke is scowling.  
 _'This is pointless,'_ complains Sasuke to his team, using sign language so only the ninja at the table will understand, _'I should be out training.'_  
 _'You need food for strength,_ ' notes Shiori, tilting her head to the side.  
'Then I'll eat even more than Sasuke!' exclaims Naruto, apparently deciding to thoroughly confuse both Tazuna and Inari.  
Shiori face-palms but brights up when Sakura and Tsunami start serving up dinner.  
The two male genin glare across the table at each other as they start eating, apparently determined to out eat the other.  
Sakura looks concerned as she watches the pair, then she tilts her head and notices a torn picture, she also notes that Inari keeps glancing to it.  
'What's with that torn picture?' she asks, and is surprised when Inari turns a glare filled gaze towards her.  
'Oh,' Tazuna hesitates, 'Kaiza was in that picture, he was Inari's adopted father and a great man, considered a hero by all, Gato had him killed.'  
'There is no such thing as heroes!' exclaims Inari, slamming his tiny fists on the table, 'Everyone just ends up dying!' he then stomps out of the room, ignoring his mother crying out his name.  
'I'm so sorry,' Tsunami bows slightly before leaving the room to follow her son.  
Now Naruto stands, a determined look to his eyes, 'I'm going to prove it to him!'  
'Prove what?' asks Sakura, she feels slightly sick, she hadn't meant to upset Inari like that.  
'That heroes do exist!' then Naruto leaves the room, apparently set on continuing training.  
Shiori considers this for a moment then stands, nodding politely to everyone remaining at the table, 'I better keep an eye on him.'  
  
===========================================  
  
Listening to Kakashi explain the Chidori is interesting, is the first thing Shiori observes the next morning.  
She's wearing a new outfit now, one she'd just bought.  
A sleeveless short blue dress with a slit up the side that has a mask attached to cover her lower face, a loose crop top over the dress, and shorts under the dress.  
She likes to think the outfit is practical, but also nice looking.  
But, back to the Chidori.  
Kakashi very clearly understands the jutsu he's created, but pauses to note he can only use it four times in one day.  
'Difficult jutsu,' Shiori nods, 'got it.'  
Tilting his head, Kakashi notes, _'you have quite a bit of chakra.'_  
'Lots of training,' remarks Shiori dryly, she resumes focusing on gathering lightning to her hand, 'this will be very useful for so many things, I could use this technique to improve the uses of my tanto.'  
Kakashi inclines his head towards her, _'What if you used a chokuto instead?'_  
'A sword?' Shiori shoots Kakashi an amused look, 'that could work,' she allows, 'If I could move the lightning to the sword instead of my hand I could even extend the range of the normal Chidori.'  
 _'And perhaps you wouldn't need to move so fast, which could erase some of the downsides of the Chidori,'_ Kakashi nods.  
There's a thud, then the loud laughter of Naruto and Kakashi sighs.  
Sasuke and Naruto have continued training, while Sakura is now in charge of watching Tazuna at the bridge.  
The Hatake is now starting to wish he'd gone to the bridge.  
Shiori grabbed her tanto and spun it around on one hand before holding it steady, focusing on it.  
Leaning forward, Kakashi shifts his hitai-ate so he can use his Sharingan to watch.  
She seems to have firm control over her chakra, changing the nature of it rather fluidly as she moves it towards the tanto.  
Within seconds lightning is starting to spark on the tanto and her gaze flickers upwards towards a tree, seeing her intentions, Kakashi quickly moves back, giving her some space.  
Swinging her tanto, Shiori increases the lightning to the point where it starts to shriek, and she charges towards the tree. Kakashi is right, going at this speed does affect her vision. The reaction from the tanto hitting the tree is explosive, and Shiori flinches back as she feels lightning from the blade spark out, burning her hand.  
Kakashi moves forward to tap her on the shoulder so she'll look at him, _'do you see the issue now?_ ' he questions.  
Yanking her tanto free of the now charred tree, Shiori nods, 'Sure do, I guess I don't need to move quite so fast when using the tanto,' she notes, 'Just being touched by this when it's charged up with lightning will be unpleasant enough.'  
Kakashi nods in agreement and lightly tugs the tanto out of her hand, he just shrugs when she looks at her.  
Turning back to where Sasuke and Naruto are training, Kakashi sighs.  
'It's taking them a while to get this,' notes Shiori.  
As they watch, Sasuke puts too much chakra into his foot and launches off the tree again, but he's gotten higher up this time, Kakashi notes to himself.  
Shiori now takes her tanto back from Kakashi, returning it to its sheathe, 'Maybe I should invest in a chokuto, a straight one edged sword seems like it'd work with how I fight.'  
 _'When we go back to Konoha, maybe,'_ answers Kakashi, thinking about how he's already ordered one for her, _'How's your taijutsu?'_  
Eyeing Kakashi, Shiori shrugs, 'I did alright against Zabuza until he smashed my mask,' she now rubs at the cut that goes through her eyebrow, it's starting to slowly heal and looking at it, Kakashi guesses it'll leave a rather permanent scar.  
 _'We should train together,'_ suggests Kakashi, _'when we go back to Konoha.'_  
Shiori considers this, 'Maybe three times a week? After dinner.'  
 _'Sounds like a plan,'_ Kakashi offers her a close eyed smile.  
'We should go the bridge with all of the genin starting tomorrow,' suggests Shiori, 'We can't leave Sakura to watch Tazuna alone forever.'  
Kakashi nods in agreement, _'They could always train on the trees near the bridge.'_  
  
==============================  
  
 _'What's your chakra nature?'_ asks Kakashi boredly, he's currently sitting on the ground, leaned against a fence with Shiori sat next to him, her legs draped over his lap.  
They're keeping an eye on the bridge workers as they build the bridge, and so far, Kakashi has to say it's been incredibly boring.  
Not even Naruto and Sasuke falling off their trees is as interesting anymore. Though Kakashi is thoroughly certain that at least one of the genin should have an egg sized lump by now.  
Wriggling her toes, Shiori sighs, 'Lightning primarily, fire also, before team seven I was working on earth.'  
 _'You should put your shoes back on,'_ notes Kakashi, _'your feet are gross.'_  
Shiori looks at her feet, she's wearing her usual knee high navy blue socks, 'They are not,' she replies, frowning at him.  
 _'Are so,'_ retorts Kakashi, he then whistles to get Sakura's attention.  
The genin approaches with some wariness, noting how close her two sensei are sitting as she does, 'Yes, Kakashi-sensei?'  
Kakashi prods at Shiori's foot before signing, _'I told Shiori her feet are gross so she should put her shoes on, but she doesn't think they're gross, who do you agree with?'_  
Both jounin now pin rather steady gazes on Sakura, and she shifts her feet, feeling rather uncomfortable as she glances at Shiori's feet, 'She's wearing socks which can get rather gross, so I agree with Kakashi-sensei?' her voice raises to a questioning tone at the end of the sentence, and she looks rather uncertain.  
'Boo,' goes Shiori in a flat tone, she doesn't move to put her shoes on.  
Sakura steps forward now, 'uh, could we talk about my training?'  
Shiori considers her, then waves her forward, 'Sure.'  
Sitting down in front of her sensei, Sakura rests her hands on her lap, 'Do you have any plans for my training? I feel I could be learning more.'  
The two jounin exchange a look and Kakashi gestures for Shiori to answer.  
'You'd probably be suited to medical jutsu,' notes Shiori, 'we're thinking you could also use chakra to strengthen your taijutsu, but that's not really something Kakashi or I are great at teaching,' she finishes with a shrug.  
 _'Tsunade would be a good teacher for you,'_ notes Kakashi, he elbows Shiori's side as he signs and she scowls.  
Shiori speaks again, seeing Sakura's downcast look, 'We can still help you improve your stamina, it quite frankly, is rather low.'  
Sakura smiles rather shyly then glances over her shoulder towards Naruto and Sasuke, the pair have stopped training and are now arguing.  
'Maybe we should stop that,' wonders Shiori.  
 _'Maybe you should put your shoes on,'_ returns Kakashi, _'Sakura agreed with me.'_  
Shiori frowns, then immediately bends her knee so she can wave her foot closer to Kakashi's face, 'deal with my feet.'  
Kakashi swatted her foot away before signing, _'you're disgusting.'_  
Looking rather uncomfortable, Sakura now stands and moves over to see if she can end Sasuke and Naruto's argument.  
They fall silent as soon as she approaches and she eyes them warily.  
'Sakura-chan!' greets Naruto loudly.  
'What's going on?' questions Sakura, frowning.  
Sasuke elbows Naruto roughly and doesn't say anything, Naruto scowls, 'teme.'  
'Is it to do with Shiori-sensei and Kakashi-sensei?' asks Sakura, stepping closer to the other two genin.  
The two males exchange a glance, then Naruto nods, 'They look rather close today,' he says, 'do you think they're dating?'  
'They did seem comfortable, too,' muses Sakura, 'poor Shiori-sensei, Kakashi-sensei's a pervert, he's always reading those gross books.'  
Naruto nods frantically, 'In Konoha, they would have dinner together every night.'  
Instead of agreeing, Sasuke rolls his eyes, 'Have you met Shiori-sensei? She's constantly mothering us, she bought me groceries!' complains the genin.  
'And she did kill that missing nin after he hurt Naruto,' Sakura considers, 'Do you think she's just mothering Kakashi like she does with you two?'  
Naruto shrugs, 'I don't know, but she's really good at cooking!'  
Sakura frowns, she'd never noted Shiori to seem very feminine, and the idea of Shiori being the mothering type is slightly odd.  
But as she thinks, it's rather obvious.  
Shiori is always tending to anything Kakashi neglects, mission reports, making sure they all get enough rest from training, and apparently grocery shopping for both Naruto and Sasuke.  
It makes Sakura feel slightly jealous, she knows that Sasuke thinks she's a useless fangirl, and Naruto for whatever reason likes her, but that's nothing compared to how they react to Shiori.  
Sasuke seems to actually look up to Shiori, having seen her fight now, and Naruto seems to really respect her.  
How does Shiori-sensei slot so well into this team? wonders Sakura, frowning.  
'Lunch time,' Shiori's voice startles Sakura out of her thoughts, 'I bought lunch for us,' Shiori holds up a bag, 'the workers will be stopping now, too.'  
'Did you bring a blanket to put on the ground?" asks Sakura, not liking the idea of sitting on the dirty ground.  
Shiori blinks, 'a blanket on the ground?'  
'So we don't get dirty,' Sakura's shoulders slump, and Tazuna joins them then, he has his own lunch with him, and apparently a blanket.  
Sakura brightens up at the sight.  
'Is the bridge nearly done?" asks Naruto as they settle down, 'could I help with it?'  
Tazuna chuckles, 'A few more days and it'll be done,' he replies, 'if you want to help, I'm sure we could use some help with moving the wood to the bridge,' he pauses, frowning, 'A lot of my men have quit, they're too afraid of Gato.'  
Shiori's eyes narrow, 'We'll all help build the bridge,' she decides.  
 _'All?'_ questions Kakashi, glancing up from his book, he'd quickly inhaled his lunch while no one was looking.  
'Yes,' Shiori's gaze darkens, 'All.'  
  



	10. Land of Waves: Part 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another picture I drew of Shiori at the end, I rather like coming up with different things she could wear

The next morning when the approach the bridge, the air is thick with fog.  
Shiori and Naruto hadn't joined them, the previous day Shiori had worn herself out trying to learn the Chidori and Naruto was exhausted from trying to get better control of his chakra.  
Kakashi hadn't wanted to wake either of them up, so they'd been left behind.  
Peering through the fog, Kakashi sees the workers slumped around the bridge, he hears Sakura breath in a sharp intake of breath beside him.  
Zabuza and a masked male emerged from the mist, the masked one is very clearly the hunter-nin, and Kakashi's eye narrows at the confirmation that he had been Zabuza's ally.  
'Still so afraid,' drawls Zabuza first, noticing how Sasuke is shaking very slightly.  
 _'Don't worry,'_ signs Kakashi, _'You are part of my team, and I will do anything to keep you all alive.'_  
Zabuza inclines his head towards Kakashi, apparently able to understand sign language, 'I wouldn't be so sure.'  
'I'm not a scaredy cat!' growls Sasuke, and decides now to start running forward, kunei in hand, to fight Zabuza.  
'Haku, I'll leave him to you,' decides Zabuza, stepping aside.  
The masked male nods and immediately moves forward to meet Sasuke's attack.  
'Ah, he seems to be matching your speed,' observes Zabuza.  
Haku doesn't look away from his opponent, 'Yes, he is a worthy opponent.'  
Kakashi considers the fight before him, but stays still for now, gaze wary.  
'I suppose I'll have to take this up a notch,' muses Haku, his hands start to move through hand seals, he easily stays out of Sasuke's reach as he does so.  
Then large ice mirrors form, and circle around Sasuke, fencing him in. Haku tilts his head and regards Sasuke for a moment before stepping into one of the mirrors.  
Sasuke gazes from mirror to mirror warily as Haku's image is reflected to all of them.  
Now Haku begins to fire senbon from different mirrors, Sasuke's eyes widen as he frantically tries to dodge them, but he very quickly figures out it's impossible to predict which mirrors will fire the senbon.  
Then they all hear something, Sasuke doesn't look, but he hears it when Naruto leaps out of the trees, yelling about his arrival.  
Kakashi can only wonder where Shiori is, had she not woken up yet?  
Sasuke seems to look slightly relieved at the sight of Naruto, but his shoulders slump when the blond enters the mirrors.  
'You idiot!' scolded Sasuke, 'now you're trapped in here, too.'  
'Oh,' Naruto blinks, 'why don't we just smash the mirrors?'  
'Yeah, sure, I didn't think of that, lets just smash the mirrors,' snarks Sasuke before turning away.  
The Uchiha quickly moves his hands through familiar hand seals before firing a large ball of fire at the mirrors, the fire seems to disperse without affecting the mirrors.  
Naruto perks up, 'We just gotta punch them!' he exclaims before creating several clones.  
Rolling his eyes, Sasuke decides to move forward and hit at the mirrors like Naruto has started doing.  
From where he's watching, Kakashi frowns.  
The mirrors didn't melt when exposed to fire, and aren't smashing now.  
Some kind of kekkei genkai? muses Kakashi, in that case this fight could turn out very badly for his genin.  
Kakashi now steps forward, shifting his hitai-ate to reveal his Sharingan. Both Naruto and Sasuke are now just doing their best to dodge the senbon being fired their way.  
He goes to try assisting his genin, but Zabuza is very quickly in front of him, 'Oh no you don't,' taunts Zabuza, 'you'll be fighting me today, and I think you'll find that eye not so useful.'  
Scowling, Kakashi ducks under Zabuza's sword.  
When he glances up, he sees Zabuza's eyes are closed and makes a quiet noise of annoyance.  
 _'Stay by Tazuna,'_ Kakashi turns to quickly sign this to Sakura, listening carefully for Zabuza has he does.  
They're very clearly in Zabuza's element here, Zabuza has had years fighting in the mist.  
'Thing is,' drawls Zabuza from within the mist, 'my specialty is killing people based on sound,' then he appears, heading straight for Tazuna.  
Kakashi's eyes widen, and he immediately realizes he cannot move Tazuna out of the way, nor can he block.  
So he takes the blow.  
The kunei Zabuza has decided to use sinks deep into Kakashi's shoulder, and he feels the pain immediately, but doesn't move, remaining in front of Tazuna.  
Glancing to Sasuke and Naruto, Kakashi sees that the pair are now heavily injured, he begins to wonder where Shiori is once again.  
Pulling the kunei free, Zabuza nods slightly and begins to spar with Kakashi, who is very clearly slower.  
Meanwhile, Sasuke has begun to dodge the senbon slightly better, and is in better shape than Naruto by now.  
Haku frowns from within his mirror, eyes narrowing under the mask, but he realizes what has happened when he sees Sasuke's face.  
The young male has finally awoken his Sharingan.  
Considering this, Haku targets Naruto instead, Sasuke yanks Naruto out of the way with a growl and looks ready to renew his efforts on attacking the mirrors.  
Seeing this only ending one way, Haku directs senbon at Naruto again, forcing Sasuke to step him and take the blow himself.  
Naruto's eyes widen as Sasuke starts to sway, 'Why'd you save me?' demands the blond.  
'Instinct,' coughs Sasuke, then collapses. Naruto catches him, 'It's a shame, I promised not to die until I killed my brother,' whispers Sasuke, before his eyes close.  
Rage fills Naruto's face, and he gently sits Sasuke down, before turning his gaze on the mirrors, orange chakra begins to seep from him and Haku notices something.  
This chakra, it feels evil.  
Naruto's wounds begin to heal, and with the chakra, Naruto also seems to gain claws and fangs, his pupils changing to more slitted ones.  
Kakashi immediately senses the chakra, and it takes him a moment to realize it's the chakra of the nine tailed fox, Zabuza also notices it, and for a moment thinks it's coming from Kakashi.  
 _'We need to end this fight,'_ signs Kakashi, he isn't looking at Zabuza as he signs. The jounin then pulls out a scroll, smearing his blood on it as Naruto begins to pursue Haku.  
Naruto roars in response to senbon being fired at them, and as a result none land.  
Haku reluctantly leaves the mirrors to face up against the genin, but Naruto swings an arm, managing to punch Haku in the face.  
Hitting the mirror behind him, Haku causes all the mirrors to smash.  
After hitting the ground, Haku seems shaky as he stands, noting this, Naruto charges forward, prepared to land another attack.  
But the sight of Haku's mask cracking and falling away brings Naruto to a falt, and as the genin halts, the orange chakra begins to go away, returning Naruto to his normal form.  
'I know you,' goes Naruto, 'you were in the woods, I thought you were a girl.'  
'Why are you sparing me?' Haku glares, Naruto doesn't verbally answer, instead delivering a weak punch to Haku's face.  
'I've been defeated,' observes Haku, 'I'm of no use if I am defeated, but I guess I will serve one final purpose.'  
Meanwhile, Kakashi has summoned his dogs to pin Zabuza down, and has his Chidori very quickly readied.  
Kakashi charges towards Zabuza, ignoring the mirrors beginning to form.  
His hand sinks into flesh, and Kakashi's eyes widen as he sees the dogs holding Zabuza disappear.  
Slowly, Kakashi's gaze tilts up, meeting the gaze of Haku, who he has just impaled.  
'Good going kid,' cheers Zabuza from where he has now backed away.  
Naruto now glances over, evidently trying to figure where Haku had disappeared to.  
Zabuza grins, grabbing his sword, 'May as well use the chance he so kindly opened up,' he swings his sword towards Kakashi, who still has his hand in Haku's chest.  
The copy cat nin freezes for half a second but manages to leap out of the way, pulling Haku with him.  
He then gently rests Haku's body on the ground.  
Apparently ignoring the body of his ally, Zabuza moves forward to strike at Kakashi, but he's stopped before he can even reach the copy cat nin.  
Shiori now stands there, having blocked Zabuza's sword with her tanto, she tilts her head back to look up at him and offers a close eyed smile.  
'Oh, you again,' snarks Zabuza, but he engages in fight with her willingly enough.  
None of his blows seem to land, and Shiori seems slightly irritated, she swings her tanto, lightning sparking off it, the lightning is now more visible and Zabuza cringes back but is unable to stop it from crippling one of his arms.  
'One down,' remarks Shiori cheerfully, glancing over her shoulder at Kakashi, who hasn't moved from where he'd knelt by Haku's body.  
Zabuza only snarls in response, and Shiori handily swings her tanto to render his other arm useless.  
There's the sound of many people, and both of them glance up to see Gato has arrived with a large quantity of men at his back.  
Tilting her head, Shiori notes to Zabuza, 'It seems we no longer have reason to fight.'  
Suspicion is apparent in Zabuza's eyes but he nods in agreement all the same, and Shiori grabs Kakashi's arm to pull him backwards and further away from Gato and his men.  
Behind them, Sakura has noticed Sasuke and escorted Tazuna over to him.  
Tazuna seems absorbed in his own head as Sakura quietly cries over her fallen teammate.  
Gato moves forward, snorting at Zabuza as he does, 'Bloody demon of the wet mist? Ha, you look like a wet kitten,' glancing down, Gato notices Haku's body, he kicks at Haku's head and laughs while Zabuza is seemingly indifferent.  
'Is that all?' Naruto seems to be immediately enraged, he moves forward, 'Haku did everything for you!' he yells at Zabuza, 'I don't care if there's no point to fighting you, you're my enemy anyway, Haku cared for you, he was willing to do everything for you! He would have done everything in his power to serve you and he was just used as a tool.'  
Zabuza pauses to stare at Naruto, then his head bows, and he nods slowly, 'you're right, Haku was always so pure, in everything he did, he had the purest of hearts, he truly was fully devoted to me,' he turns his gaze to Gato, 'Let me borrow your kunei, kid,' he asks of Naruto.  
Curiosity lights up Naruto's eyes, but he tosses his kunei to Zabuza, who rips the cloth away from his own mouth and captures the kunei.  
Kunei in his mouth, Zabuza turns on Gato, 'I may not be able to go to the same resting place as Haku, but I'll be sure to drag you down to Hell!'  
Shiori seems to be eyeing Zabuza's sword, but the rest of Team Seven, minus Sasuke, seem to be watching Zabuza in awe as the male tears through the men Gato has tried to hide behind.  
Several spears stab into Zabuza, but he reaches Gato and slits the mans throat, also pushing him so he goes tumbling off the bridge. Zabuza collapses after this, but Shiori observes him to still be conscious.  
Behind them, Sasuke apparently wakes up, immediately shoving Sakura off him, the pink haired genin cheers and cries some more as she tells Sasuke what he missed.  
The men Gato has with him now start to protest, realizing that they now wont be receiving payment.  
'We'll raid the village!' decides one man and the rest cheer in agreement.  
Kakashi's eyes widen, realizing that he's too worn down to defend the town from these people, and Naruto isn't much better. But Shiori seems good, he supposes, glancing to her.  
But his thoughts are cut off as an arrow goes flying by, striking into the ground just before the men.  
Behind them Inari has appeared, with what seems like most of the town, 'We're done being walked on!' yells the boy, 'We're ready to fight back now!'  
Naruto yells happily, and uses a little of his remaining chakra to summon clones and fill up the crowd some more.  
Shiori sighs and slides her tanto back into it's sheathe before also summoning clones, Kakashi seems to consider doing the same, but he decides not to, seeing as the men seem to be hesitating anyway.  
The mercenaries regard the large crowd before them and seem cowed, one suggests they take off and they immediately high tail towards the boat they arrived on.  
Kakashi now turns his gaze to Zabuza and approaches them, 'Can you take me to Haku?' croaks the dying man, 'I want to see him one last time.'  
The copy cat nin nods, and gestures for Shiori to assist him and bringing Zabuza to Haku.  
Lying at Haku's side, Zabuza turns his head to look at his student.  
It begins to snow, Shiori flinches as a snowflake touches her skin.  
'Are you crying, Haku?' whispers Zabuza, 'you're by my side even in death, as much as you had been in life,' Zabuza seems to tenderly touch Haku's face, 'I wish I could go where you're going,' is the last thing he says before the light fades from his eyes.  
  
=================  
  
They bury Zabuza and Haku side by side, and Kakashi doesn't comment as Shiori claims Zabuza's sword, she's quiet as she uses wire to secure it to her back.  
'Ninja are tools,' observes Naruto, 'but I won't be like that, I'm going to live life my way, no one is going to tell me what to do!' there's sadness in his eyes as he gazes down at the graves.  
He then turns to say goodbye to Tazuna and his family, the bridge had been completed over the last few days, and it was time for Team seven to return to Konoha.  
'It's okay if you want to cry,' Naruto informs Inari, and Shiori rolls her eyes.  
'I don't want to cry,' replies Inari staunchly, 'but it's okay if you wanna.'  
'Well, I don't want to either,' replies Naruto, there are already tears in his eyes.  
Team Seven now starts to walk away, both Naruto and Inari burst into tears as they do, and Sakura sighs, 'idiots.'  
As they continue to walk, they all hear Tazuna as he exclaims, 'Because of how Naruto helped Inari and gave him strength, this bridge will now be called The Great Naruto Bridge!'  
There's a responding cheer from Inari, and Naruto just grins without looking back.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final part of the land of waves! Now we go back to Konoha, and perhaps meet some new people?


	11. Unexpected reunions: Part 1

On entering Konoha, the first thing Shiori does is sigh. She now has a rather long mission report to write.  
Kakashi is somber, he waves at the genin then watches as they head to their respective homes.  
'Come watch me write a report,' Shiori nudges Kakashi, interrupting his thoughts.  
The look he gives her is a rather startled one, _'Can I meet you there? I need to pick up some things.'_  
Shiori raises an eyebrow but nods, offering up a wave she takes to the rooftops, apparently trying to avoid being seen without her black mask.  
Thoughts now on the subject of masks, Kakashi heads for his apartment. It's a small place but that's not entirely relevant right now.  
He's rather hoping his mail will have arrived.  
He reads his books as he walks through the streets, not really reading it, but people don't tend to approach him when he has it in hand.  
There's a few different things waiting for him, more than just two, much to Kakashi's surprise.  
He carries the items inside, opening the one that has to be the chokuto first.  
Withdrawing the blade from the sheathe, Kakashi admires the blade, it's a jet black blade, not the typical colouring for such a sword, and made to work with Shiori's lightning.  
Carefully putting it back in the sheathe, Kakashi places it on his kitchen counter and turns to the next parcel.  
The next contains a mask, similar to an ANBU mask, but it isn't patterned after an animal, rather it's black with two white stripes down the middle.  
He considers it for a moment, tapping on it, hopefully this one is less easy to break than Shiori's old one.  
Kakashi now frowns at the last parcel and decides not to open it.  
He picks up the mask and sword and quickly leaves, he doesn't bother walking through the streets this time, taking to the rooftops instead.  
When he arrives at Shiori's house, he finds her in the backyard.  
She has Zabuza's sword in hand, or rather Kubikiribōchō as it's named. One of the swords of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.  
Kakashi can't imagine any of them would be impressed to know Shiori has it.  
But she seems content with it, she's not wearing her typical dark blue mask and Kakashi takes a moment to admire her face.  
Shiori then notices that he's arrived, 'Kakashi,' she greets, face breaking into a smile.  
Her gaze is drawn to what he's carrying and her eyebrow raises questioningly.  
Kakashi now leaps to the ground from where he was perched on the fence and presents the items to her, waiting for her to accept them so he can use his hands to sign.  
Shiori reattaches Kubikiribōchō to the sheath of her tanto on her back and accepts the items, examining them with some interest.  
 _'I didn't think you'd think to order a new mask in advance,'_ Kakashi tells her, gesturing to the mask, then he indicates to the sword, _'And we discussed the chokuto once, I think you'd use one well.'_  
Immediately Shiori attaches the chokuto in it's sheath to her belt so it rests at her hip, then she carefully sits the mask down and flings her arms around Kakashi, 'Thank you, Kakashi,' she murmurs as she hugs him, holding him for a few moments.  
The copy nin looks slightly sheepish when she pulls back, _'Did you finish the report?'_ he asks, watching as she pulls her dark blue mask back up to cover her face and slides the new mask on over it.  
Shiori nods, 'Want to come with me to hand it in?'  
Agreeing silently, Kakashi follows her out of her backyard.  
The chokuto looks like it belongs, observes Kakashi, and he inwardly wonders why she hadn't gotten one sooner.  
But then, supposed Kakashi, she did have the tanto, and she might have been content with just that.  
He didn't think Shiori was particularly ambitious.  
'Hatake,' drawls a low voice, and Kakashi's shoulders slump, he feels Shiori go tense beside him.  
Turning, Kakashi comes face to face with an older man, the man seems to be in his late fifties but is obviously a shinobi, his hair is blond and cut very short, 'Haven't seen you around in a while,' notes the older man.  
Glancing to Shiori, Kakashi notices how tense she is now, _'Sorry, Ito-san, we can't talk right now.'_  
Ito Riku's gaze is drawn to Shiori now, and his gaze turns curious, 'Whose your friend, Hatake?'  
Immediately Shiori grabs Kakashi's hand before he can answer, she tilts her head, seemingly considering Riku, 'It's not important,' she tells him, voice flat, 'We'd better go, now.'  
Then Shiori turns and marches off, dragging Kakashi after her.  
Seeing the displeased look on Riku's face, Kakashi feels a stir of anxiety, Riku tends to cause problems when displeased.  
The walk to turn the mission report in is silent, and Kakashi automatically follows Shiori to her house after.  
In her house, Shiori immediately starts removing all of her weapons from her person, very carefully storing them by the door.  
She barely glances at Kakashi long enough to understand what he signs, _'Do you know Ito Riku?'_  
'What's my name Kakashi?' asks Shiori, now removing her black and white mask, she glances at him again to see his answer.  
 _'Ito Shiori,'_ Kakashi stares at her, _'he's related to you.'_  
'The Ito clan isn't a well know clan, I don't blame you for not making that connection,' notes Shiori briskly, 'Riku is my uncle.'  
 _'He didn't recognize you,_ ' Kakashi frowns.  
Shiori shrugs, moving into the kitchen, 'When I was fifteen I left Konoha for four years, I wasn't close to to the clan before, and I spent the four years wearing masks, when I returned I didn't stop wearing them, didn't try to let family know I was back, and I assume they just forgot about me.'  
 _'You have a family, and you don't want to know them?'_ Kakashi looks confused.  
'I was never close to them even before I left,' answers Shiori, 'I was just the illegitimate child,' she follows this with a snort.  
She now considers Kakashi, 'Riku knew you.'  
 _'He was on ANBU at the same time as me.'  
_ 'Ah,' goes Shiori, considering, 'he never stays in ANBU long, just joins it for three months every so often.'  
Kakashi frowns, decides not to comment, instead moving to his usual perch at the counter to watch as Shiori finishes cooking dinner.  
'Stay the night?' asks Shiori, glancing over her shoulder.  
Hesitating, Kakashi just nods and Shiori seems to brighten up before moving to serve the food onto plates.  
The pair are quiet as they eat, lost in their own thoughts. And after they've worked together to do the dishes, Shiori sets up a spare room for Kakashi while the male showers.  
Eyeing a shelf, Shiori ponders when she last bothered to do much cleaning in any of the rooms other than the kitchen, dining room, bathroom and her own bedroom.  
Staring at the dust, Shiori contemplates trying a wind jutsu to clear it. But she's not exactly great at those, and she can see herself doing some serious damage to the room.  
There's a whistle, and Shiori turns to see Kakashi regarding her with a curious gaze.  
He's wearing some slightly fuzzy pajama pants now and a tank top, leaving his face bare.  
'How good are you at wind jutsu?' asks Shiori, trying not to glance back at the dust so she can see Kakashi's answer.  
Kakashi frowns, _'They aren't what I'm best at but I can do them.'_  
'Think you can use one to clear out dust?'  
Sighing, Kakashi just frowns at her without replying.  
  
=======================  
  
Kakashi wakes up before Shiori the next morning, and quietly leaves the house to sit by the memorial stone.  
He's only there for an hour before Shiori appears at his side, wearing both masks.  
'I'm collecting the genin so they can have breakfast at my place,' Shiori tells him, 'you up for joining us?'  
 _'Yeah, I'll be there soon,'_ Kakashi nods, thoughts still on the memorial stone.  
Shiori nods then disappears again in a puff of smoke.  
Kakashi stays by the stone for another hour before he goes back to Shiori's house, running along rooftops to both avoid people and get there faster.  
All three of the genin are already perched at the dining room table, eating, while Shiori is still cooking, only wearing her dark blue mask now.  
'Kakashi-sensei!' greets Naruto loudly, waving his arms.  
'Good morning, Kakashi-sensei,' greets Sakura bright, smiling. She has very little food on her plate and Kakashi almost sighs.  
As soon as Kakashi sits, a plate of foot is placed in front of him by Shiori, who ruffles his hair as she steps away.  
Sasuke smirks at the annoyed expression Kakashi sends Shiori's way.  
'Are we training today?' asks Naruto, bouncing on the spot.  
'Not today,' chirps Shiori, 'You all get a day off to settle into being back in Konoha,'  
Kakashi nods in agreement, _'But tomorrow, my cute little genin, we go back to those boring low rank missions you love so much.'_  
Now Shiori joins them at the table, she seems to eye the genin before pulling her mask down.  
Sasuke activates his Sharingan as he looks at her, immediately burning the image of her face into his mind, Shiori just sighs at this.  
'Shiori-sensei!' exclaims Naruto, 'you're actually really pretty!'  
'Thank you, Naruto,' replies Shiori, apparently slightly amused.  
Sakura, on the other hand, is trying not to stare, 'Shiori-sensei?'  
'Hmm?'  
The pinkette looks slightly uncomfortable, 'Is this going to become a regular thing? Us eating meals together?'  
Offering Sakura a smile, Shiori shrugs, 'any of you are welcome to have dinner here any night, I usually make dinner at 7pm every night,' she pauses, considers Sakura for a moment, 'And if you all want to have team meals, I don't see why we can't arrange that."  
Naruto's grin seems to widen, something Shiori thinks shouldn't be possible, 'I'm going to come here everyday!' he exclaims loudly, throwing his arms in the air.  
  
=======================  
  
After the genin have left to enjoy their day off, Shiori heads into her backyard, chokuto in hand, apparently intent on practicing with it.  
Kakashi joins her and sits perched on the fence as she trains.  
It's somewhat interesting to watch, but Kakashi's thoughts are of her family instead.  
He knows Shiori's mother is dead, and he isn't sure she knows who he father is, but she has a whole clan she isn't willing to know.  
It makes Kakashi feel rather curious, being an illegitimate child can't be the only reason she stays away from them, right?  
'Something's looking thoughtful,' observes Shiori, pausing for a moment to catch her breath.  
Kakashi shrugs, _'Want to spar? Might help if you have someone to train with.'_  
Raising an eyebrow at Kakashi changing the subject, Shiori nods and watches as Kakashi hops down off the fence.  
'I have chairs you know,' she says, gesturing to her back door, two wooden chairs sit by it, a table between them.  
Kakashi waves this off and they begin sparring, leaving Kakashi with no openings to sign anything back to her.  
As they spar, Kakashi notes that she is somewhat good at using the chokuto, but a little rusty, regarding her use of it, he decides to assume that she must have used one when she was younger.  
Noting the expression on Kakashi's face, Shiori answers the unasked question, 'I did learn to use this kind of sword as a child, all of my clan did, the Ito clan is also mostly fire natured so,' she doesn't finished the sentence, shrugging instead.  
Kakashi holds up a hand to halt the spar, _'But you're primarily lightning natured?'_  
'I'd say I got that from my fathers clan, but I understand them to be rather inclined towards fire also,' Shiori chuckles, she takes the pause to stretch, and Kakashi pulls a sour face as her back repeatedly cracks with the stretch.  
 _'So you do know who your father is?'_ asks Kakashi, following her inside, he now notices that it seems to be the start of the afternoon.  
'Of course,' Shiori raises an eyebrow at Kakashi, 'He died four years ago.'  
 _'Four years ago? That's when,'_ Kakashi halts and doesn't finish the sentence, just frowning at Shiori instead.  
Shiori merely hums at him.  
'Lets have ramen,' decides Shiori, she now has both her masks on, 'It's nice to eat out sometimes,' she notes.  
Kakashi nods and watches as Shiori attaches her tanto to her back, and her chokuto to her hip, she seems to eye Kubikiribōchō for a moment but apparently decides to leave it behind.  
'Too much of a recognizable sword,' she notes to Kakashi, who nods in agreement.  
 _'What's the Ito clan like?"_ asks Kakashi as they walk outside.  
Shiori shrugs, 'Close, secretive, not as extreme as the Uchiha or the Hyuga, what were the Hatake clan like?'  
A glimpse of something is in Kakashi's visible eye for a moment, but he seems to noticeably shrug this other emotion off, _'I only ever knew one other Hatake, my father.'_  
'No wonder you're so interested in my clan,' muses Shiori, 'If we could swap situations, I'd do it,' she told him, and he assumes she's smiling under both the masks.


	12. Unexpected reunions: Part 2

Kakashi is late to meet his team the next day.  
But all three of the genin seem to have expected this anyway, and each has a book with them.  
Naruto still looks bored when Kakashi arrives, apparently having abandoned his book.  
'You're late,' grumbles Naruto, standing, he looks up, expecting Shiori to drop down from the tree they'd been sitting around.  
Kakashi also glances up, frowning when he notes Shiori isn't there.  
 _'We'll just have to do this without her,'_ decides Kakashi, _'I got us a few missions to do today.'_  
Naruto sighs loudly, 'What's the first one?'  
The other two genin also look rather dejected.  
 _'We'll be assisting in a civilians garden, helping pull weeds.'_  
Letting out a groan of frustration, Naruto reluctantly follows after Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke at his heels.  
'I'd much rather be training,' grumbles Sasuke, Naruto nodding in agreement.  
'Do you know where Shiori-sensei is?' asks Sakura, moving forward to walk at Kakashi's side.  
Kakashi glances at her with a mildly surprised look and shrugs, _'She didn't tell me anything when she left after breakfast.'_  
They arrive at the persons house and set to work, much to everyone's relief, Naruto is more careful. As last time they had a job pulling up weeds, Naruto had considered every plant a weed.  
'Ahh! there's my cute little genin,' comes a voice, then Naruto is being swept of his feet by Shiori, who laughs as she swings him around, apparently happy to see him.  
To their surprise, Shiori is only wearing her dark blue mask, and two blondes are following her.  
Kakashi notes both the females are of average height for females in their twenties, which makes them at least 15 centimeters taller than Shiori.  
One is wearing a short red dress, a red hitai-ate on her arm, she delicately clears her throat to capture Shiori's attention.  
Dumping Naruto on the ground, Shiori turns her gaze back to the blondes, 'Cute genin, these are my cousins, Ito Atsuko and Ito Atsumi.'  
Atsuko is the one in the red dress, and she smiles politely when her name is mentioned, 'Atsuko, Atsumi, this is Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Hatake Kakashi,' Shiori indicates to each of them as she says their names.  
Curiosity lights up Atsumi's gaze and she shuffles closer, leaning down to be at Sasuke's height, 'I think all the Uchiha died?'  
'Don't be rude, Atsumi,' scowls Atsuko, pulling the other blonde back, Sasuke is scowling now but he doesn't actually say anything, clearly uncertain of why they're suddenly meeting their sensei's family.  
Shoving her hands into her pockets, Shiori regards Kakashi with a calm gaze, apparently waiting for her cousins to notice him.  
Atsuko is the first to take notice of Kakashi, and her eyes widen just slightly but she doesn't comment.  
When Atsumi notices however, she's immediately over by Kakashi's side, touching his hair and patting his arm, 'wow! you're really real! Dad said he'd worked with you, but I wasn't convinced that a person who could copy over a thousand jutsu was real! and now my dear old cousin is working with you!'  
Kakashi cringes back, prompting Atsuko to sigh and catch Atsumi's arm again.  
 _'Whose your Dad?'_ signs Kakashi curiously, wondering just how many of the Ito clan he's met.  
'Ito Riku,' Atsuko replies warily, narrowing her eyes at Kakashi.  
Atsumi is nearly bouncing on the spot, 'so it's true you're mute?'  
The other blonde rolls her eyes, 'Why would anyone lie about that, Atsu?'  
'I don't know!' exclaims Atsumi, turning to glare at Atsuko, 'Why are you always trying to make me look like an idiot?!'  
By now the genin have quietly continued with their mission, albeit each looking rather uncomfortable.  
'Well, we'd better go,' drawls Shiori, waving to her team before dragging her two cousins out of the garden, the two blondes are still bickering as they leave.  
'That was. . . interesting,' says Sakura hesitantly once the three females are out of hearing range.  
Naruto nods frantically, 'I didn't realize Shiori-sensei had any family.'  
 _'The Ito clan,'_ notes Kakashi.  
Sasuke frowns, 'I recognize that name.'  
'Yeah, Ito Shiori,' Naruto beams, apparently proud of himself for remembering his sensei's last name.  
'No, from something besides Shiori-sensei,' Sasuke retorts, folding his arms.  
Kakashi now taps both their shoulders to capture their attention, _'If you come to dinner tonight you can ask her about it,'_ he suggests idly.  
  
=========================  
  
Meanwhile, Atsuko and Atsumi have turned their anger back to Shiori.  
'So where were you all this time?' demands Atsuko as they walk, 'and what's with that dumb mask?' adds Atsumi.  
Shiori hesitates, 'I was on a mission, like I said, but the mission went for four years, after that I was back here, in Konoha.'  
'And you didn't bother telling us?' questions Atsuko, they pass by the ramen stand and Shiori sees Atsumi's focus visibly falter.  
'Didn't seem important,' Shiori shrugs.  
Atsuko narrows her eyes, 'but yet you decide to tell us today, five years after returning.'  
'Kakashi seems to think family is important,' drawls Shiori, eyeing her cousins, who seem to bicker just as much as they used to when they were younger, 'I thought I'd see if his words had any real value.'  
'You seem to be putting a lot of thought into Hatake's words, did the clan not matter enough for you just to return to us without someone else telling you to?' Atsuko is scowling now, and Shiori doesn't think the look suits her grey eyed cousin.  
Shiori shrugs, doesn't answer.  
And at that moment she feels a hand on her shoulder, she feels the need to automatically cringe away, but she stops herself from doing so, instead tilting her head to glance over her shoulder.  
Riku is regarding her with a rather calm gaze, which is at odds with what Shiori remembers of her uncle.  
The male nods to his daughters then keeping his hand on Shiori's shoulder, steers her towards the district of the village the Ito clan have claimed.  
Shiori knows better to protest, so she allows her uncle to push her along, aware of her two cousins behind them.  
To Shiori's slight interest, they go to the largest house of the district, where the Clan head usually lives.  
Riku answers her unspoken question, 'The old clan head died five years ago.'  
The old clan head being Riku's older brother, Shiori's other uncle.  
She decides not to comment on this as they go into the living room.  
'I need you to do something for me,' is the first thing Riku says, as he sits.  
Shiori frowns, 'Why should I do anything for you?'  
'I think the task I'm needing assistance with may be of particular interest to you,' replies Riku, voice low, as if he thinks someone could be listening in.  
'Why not have Atsuko and Atsumi do it?'  
Sighing, Riku leans forward, resting his chin on one fist, 'They will be doing the task with you, it's a very difficult task.'  
This is sounding interesting, thinks Shiori to herself, but she tries not to make assumptions, leaning forward herself, she narrows her eyes, 'What's the task?'  
A grin spreads across Riku's face, 'I need you to kill someone important.'  
  
When Shiori leaves the Ito clans district, there's a pit in her stomach.  
Her uncle seemed certain that she and her two cousins could accomplish the task, but Shiori wasn't so sure.  
She didn't see anything as she wandered through the grocery store in a daze, collecting things she'd need to make dinner that night.  
She had the vague idea that her team might be joining her, so she wanted to have plenty of food.  
It'll be nice to have more company than Kakashi at least, she muses, drawing in a deep breath as she leaves the store.  
Kakashi falls into step beside her as she's walking home, but he doesn't try to get her attention.  
Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto are waiting at Shiori's front door, but before she even sees them, she hears Naruto and Sakura bickering.  
'Shiori-sensei!' exclaims Naruto when he spots her, 'Tell Sakura-chan that I'm allowed to let myself into your house!'  
'Of course you are,' responds Shiori automatically, moving past the genin to unlock the door.  
Naruto cheers and runs inside ahead of her once the door is open.  
'I wanted to ask you about your clan,' says Sasuke, following her in.  
Shiori raises an eyebrow at him, 'It's not a very interesting clan.'  
Sasuke shrugs, 'The name seems familiar.'  
'A few of my distant cousins married into your clan,' responds Shiori, moving into the kitchen, 'Perhaps that's how you heard of them?'  
Following her, Sasuke frowns, 'I don't know,' he admits, 'what's your clan like?'  
Sakura perches as close to Sasuke as she can when he takes a seat at the kitchen counter, beaming from how much he's talking.  
'Most of my clan trains to use the chokuto from a young age,' Shiori indicates to the one at her hip before directing Naruto to something he can help with in the kitchen, 'It's also a mostly fire natured clan, which is why I guess, some of our females were able to marry into your family.'  
'I don't recall meeting any blonde Uchiha,' notes Sasuke.  
Shiori winces, 'you were young when your clan died, but yes, there weren't any blonde Uchiha, the women of my clan don't seem to pass on their blonde hair very often, unless the father has blonde hair, too.'  
'Is it a large clan?' is Sasuke's next question.  
'It could be larger, but most of our females marry into other clans,' replies Shiori, 'Atsuko and Atsumi probably won't marry within the clan.'  
Sasuke frowns, 'and that doesn't both your Clan head?'  
'My uncle, Ito Riku, is the Clan Head,' notes Shiori, 'And since Atsuko and Atsumi are his daughters, I can imagine he is somewhat bothered, but personally? I don't care.'  
With the food now ready, they move into the dining room, Kakashi and Naruto help Shiori serve up the meal without being asked, and she beams at the pair.  
Sakura seems slightly pleased, and Shiori eyes her for a moment before sitting, wondering what the pinkette could be happy about. She casts a gaze around for Sasuke, and spots him sitting so Naruto is between him and Sakura, Shiori and Kakashi being across the table from the three genin.  
Everyone quickly says thank you, then Shiori pulls her mask down so she can eat.  
'So we can really come here for dinner any day we want?' asks Sakura, tilting her head slightly.  
'Of course,' answers Shiori, stabbing at her meal now, not entirely interested in actually eating.  
Sakura looks down at her plate with a small smile, 'This is nice, the team eating together.'  
Naruto nods in agreement, 'And Shiori-sensei's cooking is the best! Plus she lets me help her! She's teaching me to cook all kinds of stuff!' the blond seems so pleased with this that even Sakura smiles at his excitement.  
'Hn,' goes Sasuke, shrugging this off.  
There's a knock at the door, and Shiori sighs, 'I'm sorry,' she says before standing to answer the door, pulling her mask up as she does.  
Atsumi is standing at the door, a wide smile on her face, she leans right into Shiori's space, 'Can I come in, dear Shiori-chan? We haven't had a nice chat since forever ago.'  
'I'm eating dinner right now, my team is here,' Shiori frowns.  
'I'll join you,' Atsumi's smile only widens, and now she walks past Shiori into the house.  
Rather reluctantly, Shiori sets up another place next to her, keeping Shiori between Kakashi and Atsumi.  
The genin seem rather startled to see Atsumi, and Shiori signs a silent apology to them while Atsumi is looking elsewhere.  
'This is a nice place you have, cousin,' notes Atsumi, not hesitating to openly gaze around the dining room from her chair.  
Shiori shrugs, 'It's all right.'  
'Your mothers house is still there, in the Ito clan district, it's still in your name,' Atsumi says this with a smile, apparently ignoring the uncomfortable genin across from her.  
'Tell Uncle Riku he's fine to sell it,' replies Shiori immediately, and Atsumi's smile drops for a brief second.  
'But what about all your old stuff? And your mothers stuff?'  
Scowling, Shiori meets her cousins gaze, 'why are you here exactly, Atsumi? We were never close.'  
At this, Atsumi feigns a hurt look, 'I come here to be friendly, and this is how you treat me? A guest and your family? And Atsuko says I have no manners.'  
Rolling her eyes, Shiori stands, 'I think you should go.'  
'But we're having so much fun,' returns Atsumi.  
'Look, I'll do the task with you and Atsuko, just try not to bother my team,' Shiori is still standing, and now looking very visibly irritated.  
Atsumi's beam widens, and she stands, 'Sure thing, cousin,' she offers the genin a curtsy and skips out the door.  
Shoulders slumping, Shiori sighs, closing the door behind her cousin.  
'Should we go?' asks Sakura hesitantly, looking rather worried.  
Immediately Shiori straightens up and pulls her mask back down, 'No, you're fine, would any of you like to stay the night?'  
'Oh, my parents are expecting me,' Sakura looks slightly downcast.  
'Another night maybe,' suggests Shiori idly, starting to clean up as she notes that everybody is finished eating, Kakashi moves to assist her.  
'I can stay,' beams Naruto, and Sasuke just shrugs the idea off, murmuring something about a plant at home needing watered.  
Shiori honestly doubts Sasuke cares for plants at all, but she allows this excuse, pleased to have Kakashi and Naruto around for the night at least.  
She could use the distraction of people.


	13. Unexpected reunions: Part 3

Within the next three days, they barely see Shiori, she's always on her way somewhere or returning home.  
But they do have dinner at house every night.  
'Why is Shiori-sensei so busy?' asks Naruto, yanking up another weed, careful not to disturb any of the plants.  
Kakashi shrugs, and doesn't answer.  
His own thoughts are rather fast right now, he contemplates leaving their other missions for the next day.  
Sakura glances over to Kakashi for a moment before returning to the task at hand.  
'Why is it always weeding, now,' grumbles Naruto unhappily.  
There's a low thud, Kakashi glances up from his book to see Atsuko.  
Atsuko inclines her head towards him, 'Have you seen Shiori? She was supposed to meet with Atsumi and I three hours ago.'  
'We've barely seen her at all in the last three days,' Naruto scowls, 'And I guess it's been your fault,' he stands up to fold his arms over his chest and glare at the blonde.  
Atsuko is apparently uninterested in this, she nods towards Kakashi, 'let her know we're looking for her if you see her.'  
She waits until Kakashi nods before leaving, sending a small wave over her shoulder.  
'Do you think Shiori-sensei is in trouble?' asks Sasuke, staring after the blonde, his gaze wary.  
Sakura sends him a surprised look, 'Because her family is looking for her?'  
Sasuke shrugs, 'Seems odd, that they didn't know she was back in Konoha for so long.'  
'So you think there was a reason for that?' Sakura frowns.  
Kakashi stands, noting the Genin have finished the task while they were talking, the movement draws his students attention, _'We'll do the rest of the missions tomorrow, you can have the afternoon off.'_  
Naruto immediately brightens up and he turns to Sakura, the pinkette raises a hand before he can speak, 'No,' she tells him, then turns and walks off.  
Looking downtrodden, Naruto turns to Sasuke, who just scowls at him before leaving.  
Kakashi heads for Shiori's house, summoning a couple of his dogs along the way.  
The dogs remain silent as they follow him through the village.  
He appreciates the company for now.  
Shiori's house is locked up, and he notes all the curtains are closed.  
Warily, he unlocks the front door and steps inside.  
The three dogs at his heels immediately take off, exploring the house.  
He wanders through the house himself, but it's obvious that Shiori isn't home, and this leaves Kakashi unsure of what to do with himself.  
So he settles by one of the windows, and decides to read.  
  
================  
  
When the genin arrive for dinner, Shiori still isn't home.  
With a frown, Kakashi waves the genin in, indicating that they'll be helping him make dinner tonight.  
Sasuke seems slightly wary, but he does each task as he's told to.  
'I saw Shiori-sensei,' Sakura tells the others, from where she's cleaning some vegetables in the sink, 'Just briefly, I saw her running along the roof of a building.'  
Kakashi shrugs, _'Tomorrow we have three missions to do, none of them will take very much time, we'll train afterwards.'_  
Sakura frowns, 'More stuff to increase stamina?'  
Having noted how bad Sakura's stamina is, Kakashi has primarily had her working on that, but clearly the pinkette has been getting sick of that.  
 _'We'll work with a few different weapons tomorrow,'_ decides Kakashi.  
Naruto eyes the sword that used to belong to Zabuza, it's sitting by the door, where Shiori usually leaves it when she isn't using it, 'Like that one?' he asks, eyes wide.  
Sighing, Kakashi shakes his head and decides not to answer.  
There's a loud bang suddenly as the door slams open, Shiori now enters the house, she's wearing both of her masks, and Sasuke notes that her hair is a barely contained mess.  
'My lovely genin!' is the first thing she says, heading straight for Naruto to sweep him off his feet and swing him around as best she can, Naruto laughs out loud and grins at her as he's placed on his feet.  
'Where have you been, Shiori-sensei?' asks Sakura, glancing over her shoulder.  
'With my cousins,' Shiori replies, voice bland, 'I can't really say much about what we're doing,' she eyes one of the windows warily, moving to shut the curtains before taking one of her masks off.  
Naruto frowns, he goes to speak, but Sasuke speaks first, 'Are you doing a mission with them?'  
Shiori inclines her head, 'Sort of, it'll be done by next week,' she beams at them and ruffles Naruto's hair, 'then I can spend more time with my favourite sweet little genin.'  
'Kakashi-sensei is so boring when you're not around,' complains Naruto, and Shiori bumps him with her hip instead of answering.  
 _'Atsuko found us today,'_ Kakashi has to tap Shiori's arm to get her attention, _'She was looking for you.'_  
'She found me,' confirms Shiori, with a nod, she now helps the team move the food onto plates and they head into the dining room.  
'Can we all stay here tonight?' asks Naruto, eyes wide, he doesn't bother looking to his teammates to make sure they want to stay.  
Shiori blinks in slight surprise, but she nods, removing her second mask now, 'Of course.'  
'I'll have to go home and get some pajamas,' notes Sakura, she's shifting food around her plate idly, and Shiori pauses to eye the girl for a moment, wondering if the genin has been eating enough.  
Tilting her head, Shiori smiles at Sakura, 'I'll walk you to your place later,' she now pauses to direct what she's saying to all three of the genin, 'you're all welcome to keep some clothing here, just pick out a spare room and it's yours.'  
Sasuke's eyes widen slightly, but he quickly covers the surprised look, and it's Naruto who speaks up, 'you'd really be okay with us pretty much having rooms here?' the awe is clear in his voice.  
It's unexpected, muses Naruto to himself, he'd grown up with the whole village hating him.  
He'd had somewhere to sleep at night, but never a home, never people who loved him.  
But Shiori cared for him, Kakashi-sensei did, and he was convinced that Sakura and Sasuke had to care about him by now, too. He sure cared about them all.  
Shiori beams, 'You three of my favourite genin, of course I'd be okay with it.'  
They finish eating soon after, Shiori and Sakura leave to retrieve things for Sakura while the males clean up. Shiori has slipped both her masks back on while exiting her house.  
'Sakura-chan,' starts Shiori as they walk, 'Part of being a ninja is being strong,' she waits for Sakura to nod in agreement.  
'As a strong ninja, your focus can't be on your hair or your nails, or your weight, you need to eat enough to be stronger than everyone else,' explains Shiori, she holds her hands behind her back as she walks.  
Sakura seems unsure of what to say, and slightly uncomfortable, 'It's just, Ino-pig and I, we were so close when we were young, and it was our thing, being the prettiest, trying to get Sasuke's attention, and part of being pretty is caring for your nails, looking nice, being thin.'  
'I understand that you can't let go of that entirely,' Shiori nods, 'but you're allowed to relax, let your hair be messy sometimes, enjoy a big meal when you're hungry.'  
'Thank you for talking to me, Shiori-sensei,' Sakura smiles, 'My mother isn't a ninja, so she doesn't really have the same things to worry about, and I don't think Kakashi-sensei ever worried about being pretty,' the pinkette snorts and Shiori smiles under her masks.  
'Anytime you need to talk, I'm here,' Shiori tells Sakura as they arrive at Sakura's house.  
Sakura unlocks the front door, very obviously trying to be quiet.  
But much to her slight disappointment, both her parents are waiting up for her.  
Mebuki is the first of the pair to see Shiori, and her eyes narrow for a moment, 'Whose your little friend, Sakura?' Shiori feels her eye twitch at being mistaken for a genin.  
'This is Shiori-sensei,' introduces Sakura, stepping forward and out of the way so her parents can see Shiori better, 'Shiori-sensei, this is my parents, Haruno Mebuki and Haruno Kizashi.'  
'It's a pleasure to meet you both,' intones Shiori, politely offering up a hand for Kizashi to shake.  
Kizashi hesitates before shaking her hand, 'I'm surprised we didn't meet sooner,' he notes.  
Shiori shrugs, 'Busy times.'  
'Sakura, why did you come home so late?' demands Mebuki, whose attention is entirely on her daughter.  
Sakura seems to shy away from her mother, 'My team is staying with Shiori-sensei for the night, so I had dinner there and was just coming home to grab some pajamas and clothing for tomorrow.'  
'Is it for some sort of mission?' frowns Mebuki, 'I don't like the idea of you being out all night.'  
'I assure you, Sakura will be perfectly safe at my house,' notes Shiori politely, Mebuki frowns but doesn't stop Sakura fleeing up the stairs, leaving Shiori to talk to Mebuki and Kizashi.  
Kizashi seems to have gained some slight interest in speaking now, 'What clan are you from? Sakura's never said much about you.'  
There's a pause as Shiori considers whether or not she's supposed to be offended or bothered by the comment about Sakura not saying much about her, she decides to shrug it off after a moment, 'The Ito clan, not a well known clan.'  
'I hear the females often marry into other clans,' notes Kizashi, 'are you plans much the same?'  
Shiori is entirely floored by the question, and she's suddenly very glad that her face is entirely covered, 'I haven't put much thought into it,' she replies, trying to force her voice to remain polite sounding.  
'One of Mebuki's second cousins married someone from the Ito clan,' reveals Kizashi, and Mebuki seems rather uncertain of the topic.  
Luckily Sakura reappears now, a bag slung over her shoulder.  
'We'd better get going now,' Shiori brightens up at the sight of her student, 'It was a pleasure meeting you both,' Sakura barely has a chance to send a wave over her shoulder as she's herded out.  
  
=================  
  
When Shiori slips out the front door late that night, after the students are asleep, Kakashi immediately notices.  
He quietly leaves his bed and moves to stand in the living room.  
So many names and thoughts are hanging around his head, and it's making it impossible for him to sleep.  
He decides to wait up for Shiori's return instead of even trying to sleep.  
He selects one of the books that Shiori owns and settles by the window, but the book isn't very interesting.  
It doesn't disrupt the haze hanging around him in the slightest, and after several hours of remaining still and trying to read the book, Kakashi decides to take to the streets.  
He makes sure all the doors and windows to Shiori's house are locked first, fully aware that most ninja can easily break into a locked building.  
Walking the streets doesn't reveal much, but he supposes he didn't expect it to.  
There are ANBU ghosting along the tops of buildings, other ninja lurking about, on their way home or to a mission.  
Kakashi misses how busy being a ninja can get, but he's a sensei now, and his time is dedicated to that.  
He doesn't go on high ranked missions now. Can't be ANBU.  
ANBU had been taken away from him anyway, and Kakashi sighs.  
The air is cold, and when he breaths, he can see his breath in the air.  
His arms aren't covered, as he hadn't bothered to dress into his usual wear before leaving the house.  
Rather, he's just wearing a simple black t-shirt and loose black sweatpants.  
The fine hair on his arms has started to raise from the cold, and he tries to shake the cold feeling off.  
He observes the sky, it's just beginning to lighten now. He must have been out in the cold for a while.  
There's a gasp to his left, and he quickly turns, hand raising to feel the mask he's wearing. But it's Shiori whose there.  
She's not wearing either of her masks to cover her face, but the one that matches his own hangs from her neck, it seems torn.  
And now Kakashi notices how she's not quite properly standing, there are tears in her clothing and blood seeping through those tears.  
Kakashi is immediately at her side, wrapping an arm around her waist to prop her up.  
'Kakashi,' greets Shiori, she speaks directly into his ear, as her voice is barely a low murmur.  
Holding her up as he is, Kakashi is unable to sign to ask any question, he clears his throat, debates trying to speak.  
He hasn't spoken in years.  
But in his grasp, he can feel each shuddering breath Shiori takes, and all else he can feel is fear. He can't lose another teammate.  
He has to take her to the hospital.  
She smiles weakly at him as he shifts his grip to carry her in his arms.  
Kakashi takes to the rooftops, he can feel his heart racing and the uncomfortable feeling of Shiori's blood seeping into his clothing.  
 _What had happened?_ he wonders to himself, he comes to a halt outside the hospital, tries to look slightly more calm as he enters the building.  
He's immediately noticed, two medical-nin take Shiori from his grasp, recognition flutters through a third medical-nins eyes.  
The woman signs as she speaks, obviously making sure Kakashi is aware she can understand sign language just fine, 'What happened to her?' the womans hands are just slightly stuttered, like she's almost fluent in sign language, but not quite.  
They have to talk as they walk, because Shiori is apparently immediately being taken into surgery.  
 _'I'm not sure,'_ replies Kakashi, the fear is still just under the surface of his skin, _'I was out walking, and I just came across her.'_  
Shiori is taken in a room that Kakashi isn't allowed to enter, and a different medical-nin comes to talk to Kakashi.  
This medical-nin is a male and carrying a clipboard, 'What's the patients name?' he asks, voice bored, and Kakashi feels a bubble of frustration well up in his gut.  
 _'Ito Shiori,'_ Kakashi signs it carefully, he indicates to the clipboard, _'I could fill that out then return it to you,'_ it'd be something to keep him occupied at least, to keep him from going in and peering through the glass window to see the medical-nin working on Shiori.  
He doesn't even know how injured she was, all he knows is that he felt her blood on him, and his hands feel stained anew all over again.  
The medical-nin shrugs, hands over the clipboard before leaving. There's a pen attached by a small chain to the clipboard.  
He starts to fill out the form, there are things he doesn't know, so he leaves them blank. Resists the urge to disappear into one of the many hospital bathrooms, and scrub at his hands until the skin is raw.  
There's a slight tremor to his hands, and it affects his handwriting.  
It's much too soon, he thinks to himself, everyone else had to have stayed longer.  
They all died but they were in his life longer, and he feels himself wishing just wishing. That the stunt that'd pulled him out of ANBU had worked.  
Because perhaps then Shiori would not be injured now, and he himself wouldn't be hurting like this.  
He turns over the clipboard to the male nurse, and disappears into a bathroom.  
The scented soap is the cheap brand, but Kakashi squirts plenty of it onto his hands anyway, using his elbow to nudge the water on.  
He doesn't dare look into the mirror as he starts to scrub at his hands.  
It wont matter, his hands are never clean.


	14. Unexpected reunions: Part 4

He returns to the waiting room, and time seems to slip by.  
In the back of his mind, the foggy thought that he should tell the genin what has happened tries to come through.  
But for the most part, Kakashi tries not to think.  
The male medical-nin approaches Kakashi again, 'Your friend isn't doing great, but she's going to live, we're not yet sure when she'll wake up.'  
Kakashi nods, absently signs a thank up, then pauses, ' _Is the hospital taking students?'_  
He's unsure why he's thinking of Sakura right now. But Shiori was so hurt, so broken. And he can't help but feel that if Sakura knows medical jutsu then perhaps she has a chance of surviving, and perhaps she has a chance of keeping the people she cares about alive.  
The medical-nin looks vaguely interested, 'thinking of learning some medical jutsu?'  
 _'No,'_ Kakashi shakes his head, _'One of my students, excellent chakra control, she would suit medical jutsu.'_  
'She could certainly intern here, it would mean she'd have a lot less time to train with your team, I'll fetch the paperwork,' the medical-nin wanders off, presumably in search of the paperwork.  
Letting out a deep breath, Kakashi paces for a few moments.  
The medical-nin appears again, offering the paperwork over to the copy nin.  
Kakashi nods in thanks as he accepts it, already starting to look through it.  
'Feel free to come to me if you have any questions,' says the medical-nin before leaving Kakashi again.  
He's itching to go and see Shiori, even if she isn't awake. But he stops himself. He can't help her, but he can be there for their genin.  
It feels wrong to be leaving the hospital, but his feet seem to take him to Shiori's house automatically.  
The three genin are awake now, and looking incredibly bored.  
All three start when they see him.  
'Kakashi-sensei!' exclaims Sakura, she gestures to him, 'is that blood?!?'  
Surprised, Kakashi lowers his gaze to his clothing, and yes, there is blood on his clothing, barely noticeable against the black of his clothing.  
Naruto seems to have been surprised into silence for once, Kakashi hesitates, raises his hands to sign, _'Shiori is in hospital, she's going to live but she isn't doing great.'_  
Immediately Naruto is on his feet, grabbing Sasuke's hand as he stands much to Kakashi's slight interest, 'We have to go see her.'  
Kakashi nods, leads the way towards the hospital.  
 _'I got these forms for you to fill out, Sakura,'_ Kakashi signs to the young genin as they walk, _'So you can be an intern at the hospital, learn medical jutsu.'_  
Sakura accepts the forms with some interest, 'but I'll still be part of Team seven, right?'  
 _'Of course.'_  
They arrive at the hospital, Naruto steps forward to speak to the person at the front desk, 'We're here to see Ito Shiori.'  
The medical-nin that's sitting there nods, and very quickly points them in the right direction.  
Sakura seems to be filling out the forms as she walks.  
Shiori looks almost peaceful in her bed, her arms are entirely bandaged up, and there's a cut running along her cheekbone, held closed by small stitches.  
'What happened to her?' asks Naruto, taking one of the seats by Shiori's bed.  
Frowning, Kakashi sits opposite the blond, _'I'm not sure, I noticed she left during the night and went looking, she was like this when I found her.'_  
'It must have been related to the mission she was doing with her cousins,' exclaims Sakura, eyes bright, she's also taken a seat at Shiori's side, and is holding one of Shiori's hands in both of her own.  
Kakashi considers this, then nods in agreement, _'I'm going to go look for her cousins.'_  
He encounters Asuma on his way to the pub he so often finds Riku.  
The jounin is leaned against a wall, cigarette in hand, 'Did you hear the news?' he asks Kakashi, and Kakashi forces himself to halt.  
News? He doubts anything of Shiori would spread through the village. Kakashi shakes his head.  
'One of the elders, Shimura Danzo was found dead, they think he had a hand in the Uchiha massacre, he had a whole lot of Sharingan,' notes Asuma, and Kakashi feels his visible eye widen.  
Kakashi hesitates, thinking on how injured Shiori was, the timing, ' _Do they know who did it?'_  
Asuma shakes his head, 'Not in the slightest, were you on your way somewhere?'  
 _'I'm looking for Ito Riku,'_ replies Kakashi, _'I need to talk to him about something.'_  
'I can take you to the Ito clan district,' decides Asuma after a moment of contemplation.  
Kakashi nods in thanks and they start walking.  
'How has your genin team been doing?' asks Asuma, he doesn't exactly sound interested.  
 _'Well, Sakura's going to intern at the hospital.'_  
Asuma considers this, 'A good idea,' he nods, they arrive in the Ito Clans district, Asuma points, 'that'll be the house,' he offers up a wave to Kakashi before leaving.  
The house is probably the largest one in the district, notes Kakashi to himself as he approaches it. There's the sound of movement coming from inside.  
Kakashi knocks on the door and waits, tapping a foot impatiently.  
The door opens moments later, and a blonde girl stands there, eyes wide as she peers up at Kakashi.  
On first glance, Kakashi assumes her to be a child, with her short height, but then he realizes the girl had to be at least fifteen. He supposes that clears up where Shiori got her height from.  
 _'I'm looking for Ito Riku?'_ signs Kakashi uncertainly.  
The blonde looks at his hands with some confusion then disappears into the house, Kakashi remains where he is, regarding the house with a small frown.  
Moments later an older blonde appears, her eyes widen at the sight of Kakashi, 'Hatake Kakashi?' she asks, sounding slightly hesitant.  
Kakashi nods, _'I'm looking for Ito Riku.'_  
The blonde frowns uncertainly, 'My name is Ito Akira,' she introduces herself, she gestures for him to follow her.  
She takes him through the house into an office.  
Ito Riku is siting behind a large desk. He looks up when Akira and Kakashi enter.  
'Hatake,' Riku frowns, 'you found my niece, I assume?'  
Kakashi nods, _'What happened to her?'_ he sits down. _  
_'Akira, you can leave,' Riku dismisses the blonde, and waits for her to leave, 'I had Shiori and my daughters do a mission, an extremely dangerous one.'  
Kakashi's eye narrows, _'Involving Danzo?'_  
'News travels fast, yes, involving Danzo,' Riku nods, 'Does Shiori still live?'  
This stalls Kakashi, he frowns thoughtfully, _'Atsuko and Atsumi, your daughters, did they die trying to kill Danzo?'_  
Riku seems to falter, 'Atsuko is alive, barely, our clans best medics are trying to save her.'  
 _'And Atsumi?'_  
Riku's expression says it all, and Kakashi quietly decides to save the rest of his questions for Shiori.  
 _'Shiori is still alive,'_ reveals Kakashi, he stands, _'She's in the hospital.'_  
Riku's soft voice follows him as he leaves the house, 'Thank you.'  
Kakashi turns over this newly acquired information in his head. Killing one of the village elders is a big deal.  
Shiori and Atsuko would be severely punished if anyone were to find out.  
He can't let anyone find out.  
He's unsure as to why Riku wanted Shimura Danzo dead, has a few theories.  
But he doesn't want either of the female Ito's punished for something Riku wanted.  
  
=============================  
  
While Kakashi is away, Sakura continues to fill out the forms.  
Naruto and Sasuke get bored after half and hour and leave in search of food.  
Sitting in Shiori's room is somewhat peaceful, thinks Sakura to herself.  
Even if anxiety is swirling in her stomach. And fear.  
Fear that she might lose one of her sensei.  
She's surprised when Shiori draws in a deep breath, then the females eyes flutter open.  
Shiori seems slightly dazed, she stares at Sakura for several long moments.  
'Sensei?' asks Sakura quietly, moving forward to hold her sensei's hand in her own again.  
'Sakura,' Shiori's voice is slightly raspy, 'Where am I?'  
'Hospital, Kakashi will probably be back soon, he went to look for your cousins,' replies Sakura, she feels Shiori's hand squeeze one of her own.  
Shiori winces a moment later, 'Could you fetch one of the medical-nin?'  
'Oh, of course,' Sakura shoots to her feet and leaves to retrieve someone.  
Now Shiori turns her gaze to the room, observing all the details.  
Her uncle wont be happy that she's ended up here.  
Someone ending up with her injuries the day after an elder is killed? Suspicious.  
She notes a pile of forms on the table next to her bed and picks them up. Forms for Sakura is the first thing she notes.  
Sakura being an intern at the hospital? She'd discussed this with Kakashi.  
They'd agreed on it being a great idea. With the powerhouses Sasuke and Naruto will be, Sakura will always be struggling to keep up.  
But if Sakura were to learn medical jutsu . . . she could become powerful in her own right.  
Shiori flicked through the forms and signed where she was supposed to sign, before returning the forms to the table.  
All her wounds hurt, and her head is pounding. But she can't help but feel lucky to be alive.  
The thought of her fight makes her cringe. She has no idea what happened to either of her cousins. She'd fled immediately once she was sure their target was dead.  
She rolls onto her side, trying to ignore how it pulls at her stitches, and closes her eyes.  
Moments later, Sakura reenters the room and is filled with disappointment when she sees her sensei is asleep again, the medical-nin that has followed Sakura doesn't comment on this, instead quietly moving to Shiori's side to check her injuries.


	15. The Chunin Exams: Part 1

When Sakura is given a form to enter the chunin exams a week later, she firstly feels scared.  
Shiori is still in hospital, and while Sakura has been seeing her as often as she can between missions with Team 7, training with Team 7 and interning at the hospital, she doesn't feel like she's seen her sensei much at all, and she's unsure she's ready for the exams.  
Sasuke and Naruto are determined and eager to be in the exams. Naruto has been talking non stop about it every time he sees her.  
She's supposed to go hand in the form tomorrow alongside Sasuke and Naruto, but she's still so unsure.  
She's been focused on learning medical jutsu, and focused on increasing her stamina, but she's still so weak compared to anyone else on her team.  
In fact, she's pretty sure Shiori could easily beat her with her eyes closed and injured.  
Glancing around, Sakura now quietly slips into Shiori's room.  
Shiori is sitting in a chair by the window, hands folded peacefully on her lap as she gazes out it. The jounin's arms are still entirely bandaged, and she's wearing a mask to cover the lower half of her face.  
'Sakura-chan,' greats Shiori, voice quiet. The female has been quiet since she arrived in hospital, and it seems at odds with her usually affectionate personality.  
'Shiori-sensei,' Sakura smiles and moves to sit in the chair opposite her sensei.  
Shiori inclines her head towards Sakura, 'Is there something you wanted to talk about?'  
'Kakashi-sensei has put us forward for the chunin exams,' Sakura looks out the window, rather than meeting Shiori's gaze, 'I'm not sure I'm ready to take the Chunin exams.'  
There's a moment of silence as Shiori seems to be carefully thinking of what she should say, 'Kakashi and I talked about this, it's not my place to say what Kakashi feels, but I felt you were ready for these exams, not because I expect you all to pass first time, but because there's a lot to be learned during these exams.'  
Sakura considers this, 'What if I do pass?'  
'Then you become a chunin,' Shiori shrugs, leans back to rest against the back of her chair.  
'And that would be a big achievement? For me considering what everyone expects of me?'  
'Yes,' Shiori nods, she's fiddling with something in one hand but Sakura can't see what it is.  
Sakura smiles at Shiori and stands, 'I'm sorry, I'm actually supposed to be working with Mari-san right now, but thanks for talking with me.'  
As soon as Sakura leaves the room, the window slides open and Riku slips in.  
The man is starting to look his age, notes Shiori to herself, she doesn't say anything.  
'Atsumi's funeral is later today, I thought you should be told,' Riku's knee creaks slightly as he lowers himself into the chair Sakura has recently left.  
Shiori inclines her head forward slightly but doesn't answer.  
For a brief moment, there's a frown on Riku's face, 'I could take you to it, Atsuko can't attend.'  
'I can't leave the hospital,' notes Shiori, voice low, she doesn't look up.  
There's a knock at the door, then Kakashi steps in, he spots Riku first and decides not to sit, instead leaning against the wall by the door.  
Watching Kakashi with some wariness, Riku sighs and stands, 'Atsuko's genin team will be in the chunin exams with a new sensei, I'd appreciate if you both kept an eye on them,' Riku now leaves, using the door this time.  
Kakashi watches him leaves then moves to sit in the seat Riku has left, _'Have you met Atsuko's genin team?'_ he asks Shiori.  
'Yes,' Shiori nods, 'They're the same age as our genin, Ito Amara, Momori Akihiro and Akio Michi.'  
Shiori pauses to consider Kakashi, 'Amara's mother was an Uchiha, she took after her father in looks,' Shiori shrugs.  
Kakashi turns this idea over in his head for a moment, _'Was Amara's mother killed in the massacre?'_  
'No, she died giving birth to Amara's younger sister.'  
Now Kakashi leans forward to take one of Shiori's hands in his own, he keeps his gaze on it as he idly rubs circles into the side of it with his thumb.  
'I won't be able to come watch the second chunin exam,' observes Shiori.  
There's another knock at the door, and Naruto comes bounding in, Sasuke following after him.  
'Shiori-sensei!' exclaims the blond, Kakashi releases Shiori's hand and leans back as Naruto throws himself into a chair.  
Kakashi glances to Sasuke, who has quietly taken a seat then turns his gaze back to Shiori, _'Is there a chance she's his cousin or any other close relative?'_  
'Distant cousin probably, most of them are,' Shiori shrugs.  
'Chunin exams tomorrow!' exclaims Naruto, speaking before Sasuke can. Sasuke is regarding Kakashi and Shiori with a rather suspicious look, but with Naruto talking at full speed he's unable to get any word in.  
  
===============================  
  
Amara considers her team with a faint look of interest, Michi and Akihiro have been sparing for the last hour.  
Taijutsu only. Amara doubts either of them will improve before the chunin exams, but she's decided to remain quiet.  
Michi now stops and regards Amara with a level gaze, 'you want to step in for a bit?'  
'No,' answers Amara, she shrugs, 'We're not going to make any noticeable progress before tomorrow.'  
Akihiro frowns, 'Doesn't mean we shouldn't try.'  
Now Amara rolls her eyes and stands from where she's been perched on a log, 'Let's go have dinner or something, I'm thinking ramen.'  
Michi scowls but follows after her, 'We had ramen yesterday.'  
'Uh, Amara?' Akihiro hasn't moved, Amara raises an eyebrow at him.  
'Aren't you going to attend Atsumi's funeral?' asks Akihiro, looking rather uncomfortable as he tugs at a tuft of his brown hair.  
'Oh,' Amara's expression goes blank, she seems to be considering what she should say, 'I didn't plan on it.'  
'But she's your sensei's sister,' notes Akihiro, now walking forward to stand by his two teammates.  
Amara shrugs, 'Let's just go buy something for dinner,' she walks off, aware that Michi and Akihiro will definitely follow her.  
  
===============================  
  
Gazing up at the building they'll be taking the exam in, Sakura still isn't entirely sure.  
But when Naruto comes up behind her, and claps a hand onto her shoulder, she's surprised to feel just a small surge of confidence.  
Sasuke is close behind Naruto, he seems to always be somewhere near Naruto now, and Sakura isn't sure what to think of that. She smiles at both her teammates anyway.  
Then her gaze is drawn to three other genin, a girl with half black hair and half blonde hair is leading them, the girl notices Sakura and a slight look of interest enters her gaze.  
The blonde male to the girls left notices moments later, and a frown appears on his face.  
The girl smiles, but Sakura notes that it doesn't seem like a happy one.  
'What are you looking at, Sakura-chan?' asks Naruto, removing his hand and turning to see what Sakura is looking at.  
'Hello,' the girl has approached them now, her gaze scans Sasuke over then moves to do the same to Naruto, 'My name's Ito Amara,' she gestures to the blonde at her side, 'Akio Michi,' she turns to gesture to the other male, 'Momori Akihiro.'  
Sakura hesitates, 'Haruno Sakura.'  
Tilting his head, Naruto quickly gives his name, then continues on to ask, 'Do you know Ito Shiori? She's our sensei.'  
'She's our sensei's cousin,' replies Amara boredly, then she gestures to the building and smiles, 'Shall we?'  
'I guess,' Sakura offers up a polite smile, and the six enter the building.  
The first observation Sakura makes once in the building, is that they reach the room too soon.  
They're on the wrong floor, but the sign seems to be insisting they're on the correct one.  
Looking to her teammates, she can see Sasuke is frowning, she hesitates before speaking up, 'This isn't the right place, we still need to go up to the next floor.'  
Sasuke shoots her a surprised look, but he nods in agreement, 'Sakura's right, let's go.'  
Amara taps Sakura's shoulder then shoots her a smile as they go up the stairs, now arriving on the correct floor.  
There's a lot of people waiting in the correct room, and Sakura's eyes light up when she sees other genin from her Academy class.  
Kiba smirks at the sight of them, and saunters over, his teammates close behind, 'I'm surprised to see you here, Naruto, didn't think the dead last would make it.'  
Naruto scowls, 'I didn't expect to see you here, either.'  
'Ino-pig,' Sakura greets the blonde, Ino scowls, 'Watch it, forehead.'  
Behind them, Sakura hears as Naruto starts to yell, and her face goes bright red as everyone in the room turns to look.  
Several people are pointing as they talk to their teammates, and Sakura kind of just wants to sink into the ground at this point.  
She now stomps over to Naruto, and swats him with one hand, 'Naruto,' she hisses, 'Stop being an idiot.' Sasuke snorts at this.  
Ducking away, Naruto shoots her an apologetic look.  
Then there's smoke, and Lee appears, wearing his usual green.  
'Uchiha Sasuke!' exclaims the male, leg in the air as he aims a kick for the Uchiha, 'I wish to fight you!'  
Amara smoothly steps in front of Sasuke and catches Lee's leg in one hand, Sakura's starting to note that Amara almost always looks somewhat interested in something or someone.  
'Hello!' Lee's eyes widen at the sight of Amara, then his gaze goes to Sakura and he's instantly at her side.  
'You look most youthful!' he exclaims to Sakura, 'The most beautiful woman I have ever seen!'  
Sakura looks rather alarmed now.  
'If you would date me, I would happily keep you safe and happy for the rest of your youthful life!' Sakura stares blankly, she does recall having met Lee before and she's starting to wonder if he just always shouts everything.  
Now Lee's teammates come over, a girl with brown hair in two buns is one of them, and she doesn't look impressed in the slightest, 'I told you not to run off ahead! We were going to enter quietly and discreetly!'  
Lee turns with a beaming grin, 'I'm sorry, my most youthful teammate, but I saw Sasuke-kun here and just had to approach them.'  
Sighing, the girl glances over her shoulder at the brown haired male that is the third genin of their team, he seems to have decided to remain silent.  
'Oh, you're the rookies,' notes the girl, examining the group before her. Everyone quickly introduces themselves, there's some hesitance from Amara and her team.  
The girl introduces herself as Tenten, her teammate being Hyuga Neiji.  
Their attention is now called to the front of the room, and Sakura exchanges a look with Sasuke and Naruto.  
The exams have begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is well ahead of when it'll be relevant, but like,  
> The Akatsuki aren't hunting tailed beasts in this fic.  
> And Obito really did just straight up die.  
> (I might include a drawing of Ito Amara on the next chapter? Not sure yet)


	16. The Chunin Exams: Part 2

Kakashi comes to tell her after their genin have passed the first exam.  
Shiori simply smiles, reading the pride Kakashi holds for their team in his eye.  
Then Kakashi's gaze is drawn to Shiori's hand, where a silver ring is on her finger, it seems to be three silver bands waved together to form the one ring, _'That's new,'_ he notes to her.  
She glances down, twists the right about her finger idly, 'Its a clan ring,' she answers, 'Riku gave it to me, Atsumi used to wear it, Atsuko didn't want it.'  
_'Does it mean anything?'_  
Shiori tilts her head slightly, gaze on the ring, 'It's supposed to be passed down through the main family of the Ito clan, but unless Atsuko or I marry within the clan, there wont be a main line,' she pauses, 'Unless whomever we marry isn't a part of a clan so they can take our name.'  
She glances at Kakashi and smiles, 'It's also referred to as the ring of magnetism, it's not a magnet, but it does allow the wearer to use chakra to pull items to them, and it can hold chakra, like a seal but removable.'  
_'A very valuable ring, then,'_ observes Kakashi.  
'Extremely, do you know Team Atsuko passed the first exam?'  
Kakashi nods, _'They met our genin.'_  
When Shiori lefts her hand, it looks like she's simply twitched her fingers, but her mask lifts and seemingly flings itself at Shiori. This is the third full face mask Kakashi has seen Shiori own, and it's entirely a dark navy blue. He assumes the mask he got her broke during the fight that landed her in hospital.  
'It takes practice to use,' notes Shiori, she turns her wrist over, the wrist is bandaged but when she shifts her hand again to make the mask move, the outlines of a seal light up in a faded blue through the bandages, 'All members of the clan get the seal as a child, so we can use clan items.'  
_'They're in the forest of death for the second exam, I have to leave very soon,'_ explains Kakashi, Shiori nods in response, she's twisting the ring around her finger again.  
  
============================  
  
Entering the forest of death, Sakura is scared.  
She feels a dim sense of frustration at being scared, she's tired of feeling scared. She straightens her back and follows after her teammates, resolving to be stronger and keep up them them.  
Sasuke glances over her, expression unreadable. He doesn't say anything, and when his gaze turns away, Sakura frowns.  
Naruto is surprisingly quiet as they move through the forest, and Sakura quietly praises him in her mind despite the fact he can't possibly be aware of the praise.  
It's Sasuke who breaks the silence, 'We need to find another team to take their scroll.'  
Nodding in agreement, Sakura glances around, she has no idea where to start. A lot of the other genin will be stronger than them, having trained for longer.  
They were almost fresh out of the academy, and Sakura felt that their senseis hadn't really taught them a whole lot. Well, she did suppose all three of them had improved their chakra control, and both her own, and Naruto's taijutsu was getting less sloppy.  
They came to a halt, and Sasuke looked thoughtful.  
'We could set a trap?' suggests Sakura hesitantly, unsure if Sasuke actually wants suggestions or not.  
He turns his gaze on her, and she nearly squirms as he just stares at her, then after a few moments he nods and Sakura feels relieved when he turns his gaze away.  
Naruto is bouncing on the spot, eyes wide, Sakura is sure that if he opened them any wider they'd pop right out of his head.  
'I'm good at traps!' exclaims the blonde, waving his arms about.  
'Alright, tell us what to do,' states Sasuke flatly, turning his gaze to Naruto, Naruto grins wildly then gestures them both to lean in.  
'First, we need a net,' starts the blonde, 'And then we gather leaves.'  
'Leaves?' a voice scoffs, the three genin of Team Seven break apart to look around for whoever spoke.  
Amara and her teammates are perched on a log, Amara is regarding them with an unimpressed gaze.  
Sasuke immediately drops to a crouch, kunei in hand and ready to defend.  
'I was thinking we could work together,' notes Amara.  
Sakura frowns, 'Why?'  
Michi, who had remained silent up until this point, now spoke up, 'Your sensei is our senseis cousin, in the Ito clan that means something.'  
'Then, I take it you have a better plan for getting scrolls?' Sasuke is scowling.  
'We're a group of six, none of the other teams will be leaping to team up,' explains Amara, 'We could easily over power a group of three, I mean, who says we need a sneaky or complicated plan?'  
Sasuke sighs loudly but nods.  
Amara's gaze flickers over Sakura and Naruto, then she gestures for them all to follow her.  
As they move through the forest, Amara leads, with Michi and Sasuke close behind her, then Naruto, Akihiro and Sakura.  
'I never saw you at the academy,' notes Sakura to Akihiro.  
Akihiro offers a somewhat goofy grin, 'After Michi and I met Amara when we were seven, the clan head of the Ito clan decided we'd make a good team, and pulled some strings to have us trained by some clan members instead of attending the Academy, we became genin two years ago.'  
Sakura considers this, 'so you've been a team for five years?'  
Nodding, Akihiro raises his arms to fold them behind his head, 'Its fairly common for members of the Ito clan to find a team at the Academy then leave to be trained by the clan, but it does tend to make the clan less known to the general village.'  
Amara glances over her shoulder, 'Don't give away too much information about the clan,' she notes, voice dry.  
Akihiro snorts but falls silent.  
'I can use clones to give us even more of an advantage over another team!' exclaims Naruto out of the blue, Amara's eyes widen briefly as she looks to him, clearly not having expected his outburst.  
'I guess,' notes Amara, 'If we look threatening enough we may not have to fight at all.'  
Sasuke hums a low note of disinterest at this comment.  
'Shiori-sensei said the Ito clan was a small clan,' notes Sakura, but Naruto shakes his head in disagreement immediately, 'No, she said it could be larger.'  
'And that the females mostly married into other clans, and some had married into the Uchiha clan,' finishes Sasuke, glancing over his shoulder at Sakura and Naruto.  
Amara shrugs, 'I'm sure there are more interesting things we could talk about.'  
Then Michi pauses and tilts his head, Amara and Akihiro come to a halt as soon as they notice Michi has.  
'Do you hear something?' asks Naruto loudly, and Amara hits the back of his head, hissing, 'Shut up, he wont hear anything with you yelling.'  
Sakura feels a stirring of anger at this, she's aware that she hits him all the time, but he's her teammate, she doesn't like Amara doing it.  
Michi hums now, 'I can hear a team near us, one of them is limping, or at least it sounds like they're walking odd.'  
'We can take them, then,' Amara narrows her eyes.  
'Yes.'  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Ito clan casually being a huge important thing to this fic despite my plans of it being a small unimportant clan.  
> Didn't end up drawing Ito Amara like planned, or well, I did, but I didn't finish it and am currently taking a break from drawing.  
> Like I had taken a random break from writing. ;P


	17. The Chunin Exams: Part 3

Kakashi is carrying Shiori on his back when he enters the room where the other jounin sensei of Konoha are waiting, her legs are wrapping firmly around his waist and she looks slightly tired.  
Asuma is leaning against one of the walls talking in a low voice to Kurenai, and Gai perks up at the sight of the two sensei of team seven, immediately making his way towards them, 'My youthful rival!' the jounin's voice is at a reasonable level for once.  
'Might-san,' greets Shiori respectfully, her face is covered by a panda mask that's similar to the ANBU masks, but black and purple.  
Gai's eyes widen with surprise, 'It is perfectly okay for you to call me, Gai,' he tells her, and steps back when Kakashi adjusts himself to allow Shiori to hop to the ground.  
'Of course, Gai,' replies Shiori, she's wearing a simple shift dress now, and she's bandaged from her shoulders to the tips of her fingers, and one of her legs is also bandaged, she seems to be avoiding having weight on it by leaning against Kakashi.  
'Were you involved in an accident, Shiori-san?' asks Gai, watching her waver slightly.  
'Something like that,' notes Shiori, she allows Kakashi to lead her to a seat, 'Shiori or Shiori-chan is fine.'  
Gai and Kakashi also both sit, 'My cousins genin are in the exam also,' notes Shiori, she's fiddling with the single ring on her hand.  
Gai casts a gaze around, 'Is your cousin here?'  
'No, Atsuko was injured like me,' Shiori leans against Kakashi, 'but she doesn't have someone as awesome as Kakashi willing to carry her here.'  
Kakashi hums in response to this, and his hands remain still.  
Shiori now twitches a hand, prompting the book on the table to slide towards her and hop into the air for her to grab, 'Do we have any idea when the second exam is officially over?'  
_'Soon,'_ responds Kakashi, _'Word is out that there's going to be a preliminary exam, too many people seem to be passing the second exam.'_  
'How did you do that with the book?' asks Gai, apparently finding that more interesting than the subject of the exams.  
Shiori tilts her head then sits the book down again, now holding up a hand to show Gai the ring, 'Clan ring, comes in handy.'  
Kurenai and Asuma now approach the pair, 'Looks like it's time to go, all the passing teams are out of the forest,' notes Asuma.  
'All our teams passed,' Kurenai seems to be keeping her expression carefully blank.  
Kakashi stands and allows Shiori to climb onto his back again, when they enter the stadium where all the genin are waiting, Shiori is relieved to see both her team and her cousins team standing there.  
'If our genin pass, they'll need serious training for the third exam,' Shiori whispers into Kakashi's ear, Kakashi nods in agreement, he's holding Shiori on his back so he's not yet able to respond.  
'Are we allowed to speak to our genin before they have their matches?' Shiori speaks slightly louder now, so only the Konoha jounin can hear her, Kurenai inclines her head in a nod, focused Hayate Gekko, who is explaining the preliminary to the genin.  
Shiori personally isn't much interested in the specifics, she's more interested in watching her team and Atsuko's team.  
Sakura seems to be bruised up, or well, they all are, but Sakura seems the most bothered by it, and Shiori notes that Sasuke is holding his neck.  
As soon as they're allowed, Kakashi wanders down to speak to his team.  
The first pair to be called up is Aburame Shino, one of Kurenai's genin, and Zaku Abumi.  
'Are you okay, Shiori-sensei? Should you be out of the hospital?' Sakura looks concerned, and apparently worrying about her sensei has allowed her to momentarily forget her own bruises.  
Shiori giggles at this, and gestures for Sakura to come closer, 'you can heal bruises, right?'  
Uncertain, Sakura nods.  
'I have chakra stored in this ring, I'll give it to you so you can heal yourself and your teammates before your matches, the extra chakra couldn't hurt for your match, either,' Shiori reaches to touch Sakura's forehead.  
Sakura can feel it when Shiori's chakra sinks in, it's warm and crackling, Sakura shivers at the shock of it.  
'This is a lot more chakra than you're used to, but I have faith in your chakra control,' observes Shiori, Kakashi is watching them with a faint look of interest, and so is Amara.  
With a hesitant nod, Sakura turns to Sasuke, healing some of the bruises and small scratches, she stays away from his neck, she does some healing of the same type for Naruto also.  
'Some guy bit Sasuke,' Sakura now admits to her two sensei, 'he left some sort of mark.'  
Kakashi frowns, turns his gaze to Sasuke, who sighs but shows it to Kakashi.  
'That doesn't look good,' murmurs Shiori.  
Nodding in agreement, Kakashi allows Shiori to stand on her own feet so he can sue his hands, _'I know I can't stop you from being in the exams, but I have to warn you to be careful, that is a seal, and not a good one. Try to stick to taijutsu for this fight, because that thing very clearly works with your chakra.'  
_ Sasuke sighs and makes a hn noise, but nods. _  
_Shiori hesitates before going back to her place on Kakashi's back, as soon as she's in place Sasuke's name is called up, along with Yoroi Akado.  
Kakashi carries Shiori back over to where the other jounin are, Asuma is watching Shiori with some wariness.  
Yoroi is able to take Sasuke's chakra, is the first thing Shiori notes as she watches the fight.  
Sasuke seems to have listened to Kakashi, but he's struggling somewhat.  
All of the genin have moved to the side, to be further out of the way of the matches, so Sakura and Naruto are standing by their sensei now, and now Naruto starts call insults to Sasuke, drawing the black haired males attention.  
Then Sasuke's gaze slides, landing on Rock Lee for a moment, it seems like an idea strikes Sasuke.  
'Oooh,' goes Shiori, but Kakashi is the only one that hears her, he lightly jostles her to show his acknowledgement of what she's noted.  
Beside them Lee gasps, 'that's my move.'  
Now Sasuke manages to knock his opponant unconscious, and is announced victorious.  
Kakashi sits Shiori on her feet, _'I need to seal that mark,'_ he tells her, then goes over to Sasuke, taking the male out of the room.  
Shiori is unsteady on her feet for a moment before Naruto moves to keep her propped up.  
A pair of genin Shiori doesn't recognize are up next, and she watches with some interest as one of them seems to be using puppets.  
The one with the puppet, Kunkuro, wins the fight by using his puppet to crush his opponents bones, beside Shiori, Sakura cringes back at the sight.  
'You'll probably be seeing things a lot worse than that while training at the hospital,' notes Shiori.  
They turn their gaze to see the next match being selected, after Sakura's name comes up, she closes her eyes while the second name is picked.  
'That's not going to be an enjoyable fight,' murmurs Shiori. Sakura opens her eyes.  
Her opponent is Ino, she turns her head to meet Ino's slightly startled gaze.  
Both girls move up to have their match, Sakura can't help but glance to Shiori for reassurance, Shiori beams and raises both thumbs up, almost making both herself and Naruto topple over.  
'Oh, you're going down, forehead,' announces Ino as they near each other.  
'In your dreams, Ino-pig,' Sakura responds, dropping into a ready stance.  
Hayate hesitates, coughs then, 'begin!'  
Ino is the first one to move forward, she manages to land a solid punch on Sakura, and Sakura does flinch under the blow, but she keeps going anyway.  
She doesn't want to disappoint either of her sensei, and desperately wants to impress Sasuke by passing this test.  
When the bruises start to impede her ability to use taijutsu, she does her best to stay out of Ino's way as she heals away some of the bruises, thankful for the chakra she received from Shiori-sensei.  
Ino's eyes narrow, 'when did you learn that, Forehead?' demands the blonde.  
'None of your business, Ino-pig!' as the fight drags out, Sakura becomes sure she can beat the blonde, previously they had always been evenly matched, but it's clear that Sakura's training at the hospital has given her an edge, along with the chakra from her sensei, of course.  
Scowling, Ino does a familiar move, and for a brief moment Sakura feels Ino trying to possess her body, but Sakura pushes through and Ino is expelled.  
Panting, Ino's scowl depends, Sakura hesitates, Ino is clearly chakra exhausted, and Sakura knows she should be also.  
She could win this match.  
Narrowing her eyes, Sakura decides that Ino wouldn't want her to hold back.  
She lunges forward for the finishing blow at the same time as Ino, and is surprised when her blow lands, and she manages to avoid Ino's attack.  
Ino slumps to the ground, unconscious, while Sakura remains standing.  
There's long moments of silence, Sakura just stares down at the ground, unbelieving that she had really beat her rival, the girl who had use to be her best friend.  
When her hearing returns to her, Sakura is startled to hear both Shiori and Naruto cheering as loudly as they can, there's a Naruto clone also, both Naruto's are holding Shiori up now. Sakura assumes that Naruto had found it hard to keep Shiori propped up while their sensei jostled around.  
Sakura stumbles over to her teammates, heart heavy, she allows Shiori to hug her.  
She did it. Now Naruto just has to pass his match. Then they all need to pass the third exam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ===POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN REGARDS TO CANON===
> 
> so, Kakashi becomes Hokage in canon, but I'm unsure he will in this fic?  
> Like, I do want this fic to extend that far in time, but I haven't nailed down all the specifics.  
> I still haven't even decided for sure if Tsunade will be in the fic.  
> The combination of Kakashi being mute, Shiori existing, and the Ito clan existing sorta changes things.


	18. The Chunin Exams: Part 4

Sakura stood there in silence for a moment, just staring as Asuma came over to scoop Ino up in his arms, then Shiori is by Sakura's side, leading her to where the others are standing.  
Shiori's tentative hand on Sakura's elbow is somewhat comforting.  
'I'm proud of you,' Shiori quietly comments to Sakura before the two Naruto's come over to resume propping Shiori up.  
Next Tenten from Guy's team and a girl named Temari from the sand are called up.  
Temari looks confident as she holds her large fan, and Shiori watches her with some curiosity.  
'That giant folding fan looks awesome,' murmurs Shiori, leaning forward.  
Now they watch as Tenten uses a large variety and amount of weapons, only to have Temari easily sweep the in coming attacks aside with wind jutsu.  
Naruto is bouncing idly on the spot, 'when's my match going to be?' he whines, and Sakura frowns at him, 'you need to be patient,' she tells him, and Naruto pouts.  
Shiori ignores both her genin, her gaze on the match before them, she winces when Tenten is defeated almost too easily by Temari, and Lee jumps into the match, but Gai is quick to stop Lee from doing anything.  
The sand shinobi sends a smirk over her shoulder as she retreats back to where her siblings are standing, and Sakura shudders as she recalls seeing the sand team easily take down other teams within the forest.  
Next, Amara is called up, and there's a smirk on her face as she moves to face her opponent.  
Shiori tilts her head curiously, she's never seen the younger Ito fight before, having had no real interest in seeing what kinds of genin her clan has been producing.  
All the same, she decides to keep a close eye on Amara's match.  
She knows her cousin is still too unwell to go anywhere, and she starts to wonder what Amara and her teammates plan on doing for training if they make it to the third exam.  
When Kakashi reenters, Shiori is slightly surprised to see him, having assumed he'd stay near Sasuke.  
The copy cat nin immediately makes his way to Shiori's side, taking over propping her up from Naruto.  
He sends her a silent questioning look, and she decides to use sign language while neither Naruto or Sakura are looking at her, _'Sakura passed her match against Ino, they would have been evenly matched if Sakura hadn't been interning in the hospital.'_  
Kakashi tilts his head and nods, _'perhaps more evenly matched if you hadn't given her some of your chakra, even, I saw Asuma on my way here.'_  
Naruto cheers loudly at their side suddenly, causing Kakashi to flinch.  
The match between Amara and some unknown genin from the sand seems to be rather drawn out, as Amara is sticking to taijutsu and almost taunting her opponent.  
_'She's going to wear herself out doing that,_ ' notes Kakashi, and Shiori shrugs, _'the sand genin is putting more effort into this than Amara, he'll get tired quicker.'_  
Kakashi turns his gaze back to the match, considers it for a moment, then nods, _'but why play around with him like that?'_  
At some point, Michi has quietly joined them, he clears his throat to capture their attention, before signing, _'She's bored, and annoyed that she couldn't stop that guy biting Sasuke, playing around like this helps her feel calm.'_  
The two jounin exchange a look, but before either can comment, Michi just shrugs and turns his gaze back to the match.  
After a while, Amara seems to grow bored, easily using chakra to boost her speed and knock out her opponent with a blow to the back of his head with her elbow, Hayate coughs before announcing that she will be going on to the next exam.  
Amara grins and bows for the genin who are still waiting for their matches.  
Beside them, Lee has started to squirm, apparently impatient for his own match, not that Naruto can blame him. He feels like he's been waiting here forever, and while it's been somewhat interesting to watch the other fights, Naruto just wants to get his match over with so he can go eat ramen, then go home and sleep for a week.  
Being in the forest for so long has not been the most pleasant of experiences  
  
=========================  
With the knowledge that his genin would be up against Gaara of the sand, who in all appearances seemed entirely bloodthirsty, a ruthless killer, Kakashi couldn't deny that he was a little afraid.  
Each time he closed his eye, he could see blood, and all the faces he'd ever known that had died.  
Naruto had won his own match, not that this had been surprising to Kakashi, and he wasn't particularly concerned about the fact that Naruto would be against Neji.  
Kakashi did consider that perhaps he should be more concerned, Neji had thoroughly defeated Hinata in his match against her. And Hinata was his own cousin.  
There was no doubt in Kakashi's mind, Neji would not hold back against Naruto.  
And then was his last genin. Sakura.  
Kakashi hadn't expected her to make it this far. But the triumphant look on Shiori's face told Kakashi that perhaps Shiori had expected this outcome.  
He wasn't entirely sure, hadn't bothered to actually ask Shiori about it.  
Sakura had beaten what Kakashi had assumed had been her childhood friend, he'd noted their rivalry, hadn't focused too much on it, and was now supposed to fight Amara in the final exam.  
On hearing this news, Shiori had immediately decided she would be the one to train Sakura, she at least somewhat an idea of the fighting style Amara would use, considering Shiori and Amara were from the same clan.  
Kakashi himself would be training Sasuke, and he felt sick when he thought about it.  
There was always the chance he wouldn't be good enough, couldn't train Sasuke well enough.  
On the other hand, Kakashi has picked Ebisu to train Naruto.  
Ebisu is a tokubetsu jonin, who specializes in the private training of elite ninja. Kakashi is confident that the jonin can tidy Naruto's fighting up some, perhaps improve Naruto's bad grasp on chakra control.  
But at the same time, Kakashi is still slightly wary, he's known Ebisu to be a bit of a pervert, and knowing Naruto as he does, Kakashi is sure the blond won't be impressed with Ebisu.  
Currently Kakashi sits perched by a window in Shiori's house, most of Kakashi's own belongings have slowly migrated to Shiori's house, and he's not quite sure how this has happened. He even seems to see his own dogs at her house more than his own small apartment.  
Which he supposes he can understand, Shiori's house is stupidly big for one person, not that he's ever asked her about that, or even mentioned it.  
'Can't sleep?' Shiori's voice is quiet, and when Kakashi glances over his shoulder, he notes she isn't wearing a mask. He sighs, then shrugs, doesn't bother giving a proper answer.  
Shiori lazily slumps onto the chair beside Kakashi, tucking her toes under Kakashi's leg, her feet are cold against his side but he finds he doesn't mind so much.  
He can see the moon in the sky, it's large and bright tonight, and he wonders where he'll be the next time the moon is like this.  
At his side, Shiori is shivering just slightly.  
'We won't see each other much for the next month,' observes Shiori, 'no need for team training.'  
Kakashi nods in agreement, tilts his head to make sure Shiori is watching his hands, _'Are you at all worried for Sakura?'_  
'A little, but I don't think Amara will fight to kill or permanently maim,' admits Shiori, 'I don't know if I can train Sakura up to the point of winning.'  
 _'Winning shouldn't be our focus while training Sakura and Sasuke,'_ decides Kakashi, watching both his hands and face, Shiori notes that for a moment, he almost looks like he wants to speak.  
She decides not to mention this, instead she sighs and leans against the arm of the chair.  
Kakashi notes her shivering, and stands, _'Let's go back to bed, you're freezing,'_ he offers his hand to her, effortlessly pulling her to her feet.  
Despite the large size of the house, at some point they've taken to sleeping in the same room, backs slightly touching as they sleep.  
When they settle onto the bed, they rest with their backs touching as always, but Shiori shifts her legs so they're bent at the knees, her cold feet resting against the backs of Kakashi's legs.  
He shivers but doesn't pull away, wonders if he'll see her at all again before the end of the Chunin exams.  
  



End file.
